Daughter of a Sith
by Aladailey
Summary: Minutes after birth, Leia was found by her father. Eighteen years later, as an ambassador to the Empire, she faces obstacles and trials that causes her to question the very belief system instilled within her for so many years. [UPDATED: JUNE 11TH]
1. Prologue: Isn't She Beautiful?

**Author's Note: **Okay. I know Isaid it would be a while. But today, I started writing this and the next chapter. I was planning on finishing this whole thing so I can post it and have frequent updates, but... I was so excited! FFN is like a frickin' drug to me! I need reviews! So I had to post this. BUT DO NOT EXPECT FREQUENT UPDATES.

I don't know how this story will go down with people... but I have to write it. Otherwise when I die I'll have unfinished buisiness and becomea ghost. And who wants that? Anyway. Keep in mind on what I said in _Strange Relations_ about school. Because I already have homework that I have to finish. xx;

Anyhow, after reading _Heart of Darkness _(I really reccomend it), I've simply been itching to do a Leia-Vader story. Because I'm like that.

Here we go with the prologue...

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**PROLOGUE: ISN'T SHE BEAUTIFUL?**

"Isn't she beautiful?" Bail Organa asked of his wife, as she cradled the tiny baby girl in her arms. Their newly adopted daughter, Leia.

"I've never seen a more precious baby," she answered in a cooing voice, smiling as she bent close to the baby's face, the corners of her eyes crinkling up joyfully. Bail leaned forward, brushing his thumb against the light, silky skin of his daughter, marveling at the thought of him being a father. His wife and him had always talked about adopting a baby girl, and he couldn't think of a child more worthy for the Royal House of Alderaan.

A loud boom jerked each out of their blissful thoughts, and then the whole room started to shake. Bail steadied his wife as a look of terror crossed her face, for they both knew exactly what was happening: the Empire had caught up to them. The ship on which the twins had been born had already been found; the only optimistic thought that crossed Organa's mind was relief that he had personally seen Obi-Wan and Luke off the ship.

For he had no doubt whatsoever that Lord Vader was coming.

Leia had stared wailing with the sudden onset of noise and shaking, and the couple tried fruitlessly to calm her down, but within seconds sparks flew at the door as it was forced upwards.

Darth Vader strode in, menacing and ominous even with the occasional stumble on his new metal limbs. He was followed by half a dozen storm troopers, all falling into an offensive position and their guns trained on the Organas.

"_Senator_ Organa," came his deep, mechanical voice. Bail swallowed, looking upon his old friend in despair. What had Palpatine done to Jedi Anakin Skywalker?

With sudden bravery and stupidity, Bail stood directly in front of his wife, spreading his arms protectively, then shouting, "You'll never take Leia! You betrayed your Republic and killed your wife, but I won't let you take Leia!"

Darth Vader, although keeping his same posture and not moving a muscle, was suddenly and obviously furious. With a casual wave of his hand, Bail flew through the air and crashed against the metal walls, landing with a sickening thud on the floor. His wife screamed, then was stopped short, clutching at her throat.

Leia remained in the air as her adoptive mother died directly beneath her.

Darth Vader took her, uncertainly, holding the crying child in his metal arms. Using the Force, Vader made her screaming stop. Leia glanced uncertainly up at him, tears shining in her wide brown eyes. Seemingly satisfied, he turned heel and strode out the broken door and through the ship. People stared at the Sith Lord protectively cradling a baby within his enlengthened arms.

Once back in his private quarters within the Star Destroyer, he took a better look at his baby girl. For Darth Vader had no doubt in his mind that this little girl – Leia – was his and Padmé's.

Just the thought of Padmé drove feelings of anger and hate against her, against Obi-Wan, and especially against Bail Organa. For him to even suggest that he had something to do with his wife's death…

A look at Leia's sleepy brown eyes quieted his anger for the moment. So much like her mother…

As the baby fell asleep, Darth Vader layed her on a small armchair, setting a shield around her to ensure security. Then he paused to look at her one last time before going about his duties.

And he couldn't help but think, _Isn't she beautiful?_


	2. An Appointment

**Dovasary: **Isn't Darth vader the sweetest guy you've ever met? ;) 4.1? oo; - stabs own 3.83 GPA - I hate you. No. Not really. xDD  
**Eliza Evenstar: **Lol, it's not _exactly_ like Heart of Darkness. But, you know, same concept. I love Heart of Darkness, lol. Awwes. Thank you. :DDD  
**SkywalkerChild: **Thanks. Answering your questions... he only knew that his kids (well, Leia) was alive _after_he found her. He went to the ship looking for Jedi sympathizers and found Leia. Go figure. And about the RotS thing, my view is that he's just in strong denial. As in she brought in on herself, crap like that. - has never written for Darth Vader before -  
**SuP3R G1R: **Lol, well, here's chapter one.  
**.Sweet-KRAZY.03.:** Thanks!

**Author's Note: **Okay. Chapter one (first was a prelouge). I was sort of unsure about it, but what the hell? My view is that it's a tiny bit filler, and a lot of you may hate me by the end. If that's the case, lemme just direct you to sentence three of my profile (disincluding the blanket disclaimer).

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**CHAPTER ONE: AN APPOINTMENT**

_Taptaptap. Taptaptap. _

Seated around the table was Kik Niw of Corellia, Bail Asrich of Naboo, the Dark Lord Darth Vader (although he was standing), and The Emperor was at the head. The three contestants were nervous. The Imperial Princess Leia Skywalker of Coruscant was impatiently drumming her fingers upon the smooth metal surface of the table. Always one for politics, today was the day of her career: the day deciding whether or not she would be chosen to be ambassador to the Emperor himself. Leia had spent months and months preparing for this; they gave their final speeches to the Emperor four days before, and she was anxious.

A woman had never held a political office in the history of the Empire before (which was literally Leia's whole lifetime, eighteen years), but other than that, Leia had really nothing counting against her. She revered the Emperor: he was a great political mind with powerful intelligence, a gift for persuasion, and under him the Galaxy had had the best economical stability ever. Also, her father was the Sith's apprentice (that had to count for something, right?). And her contestants… well, she was sure she was the better of the three. There was no way any Nubian was about to be appointed, so that counted out Bail Asrich. Also, it was well known that every Corellian was an arrogant drunk, so Kik Niw was out of the picture as well.

Needless to say, Leia was confident.

"I have decided." The Emperor started without so much of a warning (they had been sitting there for ten minutes in silence). Like always, his mouth was enunciating every syllable as if they were about to run away on him. Leia glanced coolly around the table at her adversaries; Niw looked as if he was still enjoying the effects of last night's party, and Asrich looked as tense as Leia felt.

No one pressed the Emperor further.

"The one that I have chosen has an open mind and the courage for some of the… missions… that are, of course, absolutely necessary." (here Leia sat up a little straighter) "The new ambassador respects the workings of the my Galactic Empire, and I know will gladly and readily accept any new law I care to enforce." You could not see his face for the hood, but Leia knew his eyes were on her. Her stomach did a back flip with excitement. "Leia Skywalker, welcome to my cabinet."

Leia, every bit ready to jump up and scream, simply gave a small smile and a simple nod to the Emperor, then smoothly stood up to leave. Her opponents were not as concealed in their emotions, for Niw actually let out a sound of disbelief. In a half second, every pair of eyes was trained on him.

"Yes? Do you have an objection?" the Emperor asked, in an obvious mockery of interest. Niw suddenly collected himself, cleared his throat, then spoke.

"Uh, no, just somethin' in my throat…" he coughed to prove it.

Palpatine looked highly contemptuous and disbelieving, but nothing compared to how livid Vader appeared.

"Do not lie to me, Niw," he warned in his deep and menacing voice, holding out a right hand with the first two fingers slightly extended.

"I - " Kik Niw started, but then stopped, holding a hand on his throat. He looked as if he was trying to speak, but was rendered unable. Seconds later, with a sickening crunch, his throat closed and he fell sideways off his chair.

Bail Asrich threw a terrified glance between Vader in the body, and abruptly stood, gave a stiff bow to the Siths, and hurried out.

Leia was about to do the same (although more gracefully) when the Emperor motioned for her to stay.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"At noon tomorrow there is an, ah… confidential," he paused for effect. "meeting. I expect you to be there."

"Yes, Your Majesty," she agreed readily.

Without another word, he stood, turned, and walked out of the large doors behind her desk, leaving Leia and her father alone.

All was silent for a moment as they just looked at each other, then Leia let out a little scream and threw her arms around him.

They say that it's impossible for one of the Dark Side to feel affection and caring, but what the Sith Lord Vader felt for his daughter was nothing short of love. He gently placed his arms around her, and she hugged him for a little bit more before pulling away.

"Ugh! Finally," Leia said, tiredly gathering up her things. "I mean, all those months - " she stopped, shooting her standstill father a grin. "But I did it!"

"Yes," he answered simply.

She impatiently checked her wrist chrono. "Do you know what the meeting is about tomorrow, father?" she asked distractedly, now attempting to adjust it.

"Yes."

She waited a moment, then glanced up from her futile efforts as if expecting an answer.

"You'll know tomorrow, my daughter," he answered plainly. Leia shrugged, looking back at her wrist, knowing that she was not going to get an answer.

"I – can't - " she sighed, holding out her hand, and a simple wave of his fingers caused it to adjust slightly. "Thank you." She sighed, then laid her hand on his metal arm. "I'll see you later, but I have to get going," she smiled and watched him as he gave a nod and followed the Emperor into the forbidden throne room.

She turned and strode through _The Executor_. Once she reached her private suite-like quarters, she threw her datapads onto the desk at her left, and was about to head in to grab a snack when she felt a pair of arms encircle their way around her.

"Zach…" she pouted playfully, turning around. "How'd you get in here?"

"You gave me the code, remember?"

"Well, yes, but aren't you on dut - "

"Sh," he ordered, then kissed her. "Congratulations."

She blinked. "For what?"

"You got appointed."

"How do you know?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Word travels rapidly."

She looked skeptical. "_That_ quickly?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… I met Asrich when he was running away."

"Oh."

"So word doesn't really travel all that quickly."

"Oh," she smiled, kissing him lightly.

"How about I fix you dinner?"

Leia smiled. Admiral Zach Read, a fellow Coruscanti, was her boyfriend. They had met here, on _The Executor_, and had been dating for almost as long as they'd known each other. She knew she didn't love him, but in time, she will.

Thing was, he wasn't that great of a cook. But one thing that Leia became in involvement with the Empire was a very accomplished liar.


	3. Of Spice and Stupidity

**Author's Note: **Ugh. I just had the longest first week at school I've ever had, and then a long and busy weekend. Then this morning I decided - 'Well, I really should write chapter three. It's been awhile.' Which leads me to my next point. I found that I work best in the early morning hours, for some reason. xD

**SkywalkerChild: **I know - I'm trying to do things a bit different in this story. Instead of loading on a whole lot of information at once, I'm'a gunna try to... permeate it throughout the story. Same goes with Zach, you'll find out more about him in the next chapter.  
**DarthLady14: **Thank you! Lol, don't worry, I love the Han/Leia pairing.  
**SuP3R G1R: **- frantically directs to lines 3-5 of profile. discluding disclaimer -  
**darth mojo the spork: **Thank you. No, she's essentially the same Leia. Just, sortah, supporting the other (wrong!) side. xD Yeah, _Heart of Darkness_ is definitely one of my very favorites.  
**Eliza Evenstar: **Thank you. :) I actually wasn't about to have Zach. Then I decided, what the hell, it'd make things more interesting. And, like you said, it adds a touch moreof realism.

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CHAPTER TWO: OF SPICE AND STUPIDITY**

Glancing at her watch, Leia decided, was a nervous habit that she had. For the thousandth time within ten minutes, she felt her eyes wander to her wrist. There were exactly eight minutes until the meeting started; whenever the Emperor scheduled a meeting, everyone was supposed to be either early or promptly on time, including himself. Leia supposed that it was because it gave him a sense of control over every aspect of his Empire, down to the very second.

But she respected him for it. And she was sure everyone else did, too, because if one was late they were either dead or scared down to their boots (depending on how late they were).

Not a word was said when two official-looking men rushed in exactly four minutes later, just a few exchanged glances. Two and a half minutes after that - at this point, Leia desperately wanted to discard her watch - was when the Emperor arrived. It was the same meeting room in which Leia was in the day before, therefore the Emperor arrived in all his majesty through the same grand, arched doors, flanked on either side by red Imperial guards. He had made this battle cruiser his second home. At this point, Leia was able to feel the nervousness and fear generated by the two other ambassadors (of whom she recalled no recognition). Although she was, on the Emperor's orders, forbidden to be trained in the Force, her father taught her a few things that wasn't training as much as it was practicality. She was taught to relieve stress - a problem that she frequently faced - and her somewhat weak connection with the Force allowed for excellent instincts and judgement on her part. For her to feel, at this degree, the fear that was coming from her counterparts must mean that at any point they were about to get up and bolt. Metaphorically speaking.

"Ambassador Leia Skywalker," _Ambassador_. She liked that. "Xij Greng of the Imbod System and Telur Ambrodi of Xinin," She nodded at them, immediately noting their systems and within the span of half a second she conjured up with her brain all the information she's ever read about them. _Imbod: Inner Rim, swampy and desert, mines spice and gases within the crust; Xinin: temperate, run by the long-standing monarch dynasty of Ylemi as well as Empire, exports of spice and excellent yacht buisness, suspected of illegal spice trading._ In a nutshell, that is. She marked quickly that spice was a common between the two, and instantly began paying attention to what the ambassador of Imbod started saying. Thank the gods he was only a few words in.

"...proposal that, if successful, would strengthen the economy of our beloved Empire - " _Quit sounding like a sales pitch_.

"'If sucessful'?" quoted the Emperor suspiciously.

"Ah - yes - erm, we will need some... c-cooperation that would be, um, impossible to succeed with... without. Special signals on our freighters that will be recognized by the Empire so we won't get boarded and arrested - that sort of thing..."

"What, exactly, are you going to be shipping?" interjected Leia sharply.

Ambrodi sighed, giving a glare to the stumbling and stuttering Greng that clearly meant 'shut up and let me speak'.

"Amabassador Princess Skywalker..." (She really did love that title.) "Our countries are involved in the import and export of spice on the black market, and we find it as a great economy booster," Now this guy was to the point. "We are requesting a galaxy wide legalization of spice shipping concerning certain companies - or a certain company, if this is kept quiet enough - that will ship spice to our more richer costumers or to planets as a whole. The Empire would be involved - we will gladly pay any tax or tarriff on the shipment - " By now he was speaking to the Emperor. " - as well as the usual tax on company ownership. I tell you, Your Majesty, if this proposal is put into action inflation will decrease dramatically and more money will go to you and your Grand Moffs - we are simply begging permission to legally do the work ourselves."

"Did you heed no thought on what would happen if I were to reject your proposal and the consequences to your whole planet for the illegal transport of spice?" Emperor Palpatine asked pleasently.

"Well - yes," Ambroi said, faltering for the briefest second. "But we were hoping the figures would be good enough where that wouldn't happen." he bent over, retrieving a datapad from his bag and handing it diagonally to the Sith Lord, who waved his hand and had it float over to Leia. She immediatley switched it on, watching as screens flashed by filled with percentages and economic hypotheses and charts and graphs. The whole room was dead silent, staring at her, for the five minutes she spent studying the figures, but that did little to deter her or make her uncomfortable (it happens when one happens to be the offspring of Darth Vader). She had to admit that it looked... reasonable. She had hoped that this was all complete blasphemy. To her, the majority of the galaxy was stupid enough without legalizing a primary catalyst. Spice, in her mind, was about as degrading as orange lipstick.

As soon as she was done, she gave a firm nod to the Emperor, who conceded to look through it himself once it passed the first test.

"I will like to make this operation quiet," he informed them, causing them to both look as if they were saved from death. Inwardly, Leia groaned. There goes the scholars. "It may make some of population... unhappy, thereby causing sympathy for the Rebellion."

Both nodded fervently and simultaneously. _The better for them,_ Leia thought wryly.

"Is there anything else?" By this, it meant that he knew there was something else but disguised it as a question.

"Yes. We requested the planet of Kessel to join us when we were drawing up this plan, but they wanted nothing to do with it at the time - they felt they were under enough scrutinization of illegal activities as it was. As you know, Kessel deals in the mining and shipment of spice, and making them a company contact would be extremely useful - as well as annexing Nar Shaddaa into our operation, although Kessel shall come first."

"Skywalker will be on her way by 2000 hours today." The Emperor agreed. "You may leave." They both nodded, and walked out holding their chins a little higher than they did when they came in.

"Skywalker, a royal transport will be waiting for you at platform 27F at 2000 hours. You are to take these figures and negotiate with Kessel and Nar Shadaa about our operation. But _keep it quiet_." he ordered. Leia nodded, and once he left she gathered up her things and made her way from the conference room to her suite for the second time in two days.

She could see the universities burning now.

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Okay. I made up the names of the two planets thatGreng and Ambrodi were frombecause I looked all over Star Wars Databank and the only two planets associated with spice were Kessel and Nar Shaddaa. So there, deal with it. xD 


	4. Neat Obsession

**Author's Note: **This chapter is filler, I know. But everyone has to have a few of those, right? I promisepromisepromise that the action will start next chapter.

**Dovasary: **XDD Lol, both of the two boys will come into this story. ;) What would Star Wars be like without Han and Luke? And Han? And Han/Leia? And Han? Hehe, I've never read a Padmé lives fanfic. Well, other than the stuff the GreatOne writes, but those still focus on HL. Which is great. xD  
**SuP3R G1R: **Lol. There is no other pairing! No... Han/OC... Leia/OC... Han/Luke (just...no)... Leia/Mara (although I've never seen one of those oO;)... you get the picture. Han♥Leia best! (;) I'm very passionate on the subject, lol.)  
**darth mojo the spork: **Lol, thanks:) Yeah, I particularly liked that chapter. I don't like this one, though. x.x

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**CHAPTER THREE: NEAT OBSESSION**

Everything had to be neatly folded. Leia was not the kind of person that simply threw things into their bag and hoped that it'd all sort itself out once the need for the packed item arose. She neatly put in what she called her 'diplomatic' dress; a white, long-sleeved garment with a square, low neckline and grey stitching at the sleeves, neck, waist, and hem. It hugged her hips and the skirt wasn't full, but it wouldn't stick to her legs like some dresses. It sloped downwards at the front, where the hem would brush her ankles and the angular slit would go up to her knees, leaving the back to lightly brush at the floor. With it, she set her gray, flat boots that went midway up her calves, and white leggings that went under the boots. It was modest enough to not offend anyone, but stylish enough to not seem like a prude.

"How long will you be gone?" asked a voice behind her, and she peered at the older man, lounging on a chair near her bed. Zach had been here for the duration of her packing. Which has been around an hour already.

"Only a few days," she smiled reassuringly, making the trip across the bedroom and into her bathroom, gathering her necessary toiletries - which included two full bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Which shows how much hair products she uses. "_Don't worry_, I'll be fine," she said, as he still looked dubious.

"I don't know. Kessel is a shabby place. Full of... smugglers, and spice dealers..." his voice trailed off.

"Yes. And I'm working to make their professions legal," Leia said wryly, clicking a side pocket on the bag shut. She smiled, walking over to him and putting her hands on his shoulders. He wasn't much taller than her, and he was around forty-five standard years old. But he was one of those good-looking middle-aged men, and he wasn't uptight like most officers on the ship were. Like Piett.

For some reason Leia liked older men, only once had she been seriously attracted to a man her age - when she was sixteen, and the boy was in her Advanced Diplomacy class (she had already been in university by then). To keep it in a nutshell, it didn't work out very well.

He still looked skeptical. "Zach," Leia said, impatiently. "I'll have an escort. They're not just throwing me out there," she said sternly. "Now," she started, looking at her watch. 1410 hours. "You have to be on duty in five minutes, and I have to finish packing and take a shower, and get to the docking station a little bit early." she said resolutely, before snapping off her watch and putting it on the bedside table. She bent over him, kissing his cheek. "Bye, honey," she said quickly, then promptly resumed her packing. She heard him get up and leave, and she sighed. Worrywort.

It took her at least another hour and a half to complete packing to her satisfaction, then two and a half hours showering and getting her hair done up in two french braids ending in long plaited knots at the back of her head. She would do something more formal for the meeting, but a few casual braids would do for the trip.

Her father's heavy, deep breathing alerted her to his presence as she finished tying a the last knot.

"You are ready?"

His voice was the same, deep, mechanical, menacing that loomed around him wherever she went, but Leia simply glanced at him nonchalantly from outside her door.

"Yes. I was hoping to grab a bite," she answered steadily, emerging and smiling at him before heaving her heavy case off of the bed and strapping on one of her cheaper, numerous watches while tucking a silver-tones one into her upstanding case. "Was there anything you needed me for, father?"

"To wish you luck, simply," he answered after a pause. This made Leia frown, and wheel to face him.

"You're not seeing me to the ship?" she asked, slightly upset. It was childish, but oh well.

"I cannot. The Emperor needs me by his side momentarily."

As a girl, it was hard for Leia to hug her father. He was so... for lack of a better word, metal. Hugging him was like hugging a piece of durasteel (that killed people). Even now, she was still faced with a sort of subconcious decision on how she was to approach the embrace, and it always required her the slightest moment of thought before it was acted upon. But she walked over and looped her arms around his lower chest briefly (that's about where she reached), and let go.

"Promise to meet me when I return?" she started in a compromise, and he responded with a slow nod. She took his word for it.

She felt the tiniest, briefest hesitation, then, "May the Force be with you."

Leia blinked. That was a phrase that she hadn't heard him utter in... never. She recognized it; her various researchings of the old Jedi and the Republic (know your enemies) mentioned that phrase a few rare times, but her father said it with somewhat ease and familiarity.

"As - as with you," she stammered, a flicker of surprise dancing across her eyes.

And he simply left, leaving Leia to stare at his dark cape whipping around the door as it slid shut.

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"Your highness," greeted a polite, official voice; a member of the personell that she had seen in the seven hour journey to the mining planet. Leia placed her hand over his in a very princess-like manner, letting him lead her off the ramp, while tightening her nerf fur coat around her as she peered at the barren, rocky horizon. Kessel was frigid, and lifeless, full of salt flats, flat plateaus, and flatter, grassless plains. There was the dark hole of an occasional cavern where there seemed to be mining routes, and she watched the number of slaves - predominately non-human - file into the caverns. 

It appeared that she arrived in one of the more 'busier' plces on Kessel; it was a sort of model of the old barter system of a feudal marketplace (except more high tech). Credits seemed nonexistant out here - at least among the commoners - and she distinctly watched a trade between a dead animal - food - and a large tank of water.

She was led in silence and with an escort - Zach was more than correct when he said it was shabby and dangerous - and people stopped to stare at the large progression. It was hard, with her short stature, to see around her various bodyguards, but she was sure she caught a glimpse of the imfamous Smuggler's Yard, which was just a variety of old freighters landed near eachother. One human, she noted, seemed to be loading some suspicious cargo into his own beat up freighter. Scum.

She rubbed her face, now red and flushed from the cold, and attempted to bury her freezing fingers within the confines of her jacket thereby declining help up the stairs. She half-jogged up, now trying to reach the inside of the large multistory building in front of her as quickly as possible. She arrived inside, basking in the warm glow that spread to her toes. They came into a large atrium, full of real wood floors and comfortable seating, but no comment from the secretary was made as she was immediatley pushed into the hallway.

Obviously, the owners were very wealthy.

Leia was led to a very surprisingly comfortable room, although a bit small for her taste, and was told that she would have a meeting the next day at 0900 hours. She went to t he window, and looked across the gray and barren landscape, and the various people in their thin rags trying to scrape a life in the cold. She felt a tiny stab of pity, but she drew the curtains and proceeded to unpack.

After all, she had work to do.

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Other things to say: 

Movies YOU should see: _THX1138_. Lucas' director's debut. Strange, but I liked it. _Hollywood Homicide_. Harisson Ford as an arrogant cop! Take me now! He's a hot old man!

Bad News:( Dad hid my SW OT. And I have all these oneshots mulling around, too. :(

Lol. Review!


	5. Glory

**Author's Note: **My muse found this chapter quite nicely. :D

**SkywalkerChild: **Yeah. It sucks having WordPad instead of Microsoft Word. >.> I guess I should start to read the chapters more thoroughly before I post them, eh? What she's doing on Kessel is answered in chapter three, and about Leia and Zach, well, even today it's pretty common for girls to date older guys. Besides, like she said, she doesn't care much for men her age - too hormonal. I'm really glad I'm getting your constructive criticism, I'm really becoming more concious about what I write instead of doing it on sponaneity (is that a word?), but is there anything you like about this?  
**Culf: **Of course, in Episode III, Anakin (or Vader, I should call him) was willing to live with Padmé until he felt she betrayed him. He cares for Leia - who isn't of the Dark Side, she doesn't have training in the Force - but I think if she turned against him and the Empire, he would try to kill her. His loyalty is first and foremost with Palpatine. And yeah, she's on Kessel. :D I'm not sure if this chapter is going where you think it's going, but don't worry - there will be a meeting between our nerfherder and Leia. Sometime in this story - not telling when, though. ;D

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**CHAPTER FOUR: GLORY**

Leia wearily threw her briefcase of datapads onto her bed. These people managing Kessel... ugh, they were infuriating. It has been almost a week; it was taking longer than it actually should. They kept trying to suck every single credit out of the operation as they can, and they would change their minds the next day about a little aspect that would need and hour's compromise over. Greedy, snivelling pieces of scum. Most meetings she just wished that she'd know how to use the Force just so she can Force-choke them all out of frustration.

She irritatingly threw herself onto a couch, holding one of the throw pillows to her face and screaming into it. Yes, that made her feel better. After patting the pillow back into position, she stood up, going into the small bathroom to let down her hair. Which was already coming out of place in the first place, from her annoyed strides down the hall of the hotel.

Not once has she been outside of the building since she got here. She was getting cramped - which was strange, considering she spends most of her time on a ship anyway - but it was much too cold. She enjoyed watching through her window, though (considering there was nothing much better to do). The lives of the common was quite fascinating, really. Most appeared illiterate, and seemed rough both in tongue and work, but it was a nice change from the puffed-up Imperial officers of the cruiser she lived on. Throughout the day smugglers blasted in or out of the atmosphere, and competition seemed huge. On more than one occassion, she heard muffled blaster shots ringing in a fight outside. It was on those times that she was glad that she didn't go outdoors.

Leia walked out of the bathroom to a comm call. She pulled her long hair away from her ears, checked her watch, than hit a button to accept it.

Darth Vader appeared on the screen.

"Hello, father," Leia greeted with a brief smile. He gave a tiny nod.

"The Emperor is getting impatient," he stated. Right to the point. Leia immediatley resolved to end this thing tomorrow. But it really wasn't her fault, although she was grateful that her father warned her. Usually, the Emporer's men didn't find out until it was already too late.

"It's almost done. The Kesselians are - I mean, were being less than cooperative."

"I trust that you will be on your way to Nar Shadaa tomorrow?"

"Yes. Maybe later in the day," _If that's what you can call the bleak, cloudy, cold, slightly lighter part of the planet's cycle_, "It really depends on when these people set the meeting. They have an erratic schedule." It was yet another annoyance to Leia. One day, the meeting would be set at 2000 hours, last four hours, only to have the next one set at 0800 hours.

"I believe it. I have always... distrusted smuggler planets." Meaning that he would destroy them if he could.

"I'm think that this is a bad move, personally," she stated as the door opened and a little robot with complimentary drinks rolled in. She picked one up off the pedestal, taking a sip. "There are enough ignorant, spice-addicted beings in this galaxy without making it legal." she said grimly, sighing, and rechecking her watch. Stupid habit.

"I'm expecting to see you in less than a week, daughter." Vader said, making no indication that he had heard Leia.

_Of course,_ Leia thought, mentally smacking herself in the forehead. What - did she expect him to agree with her and admit that the Emporer was wrong? Sometimes she forgot that her father was the Emperor's right-hand man.

"Uh. Yeah," she said, trying to act like her mistake (which, if said by anyone else, could be considered an act of treason) was nonexistant. "Goodbye." she gave a quick, slightly hesitant smile, he nodded once more, and the screen went blank.

Leia (physically) smacked herself on the forehead. Stupid, stupid.

She stood up, slightly restless, her eyes wandering near the door. Decisively, acting on some unknown force she stood up, and walked through it, beckoning for the little droid the follow her. It did so, the drinks rattling on the little tray.

Leia hurried through the halls and into the atrium, the droid whistling in curiosity and annoyance behind her. She opened the door to the outside, and was hit with a blast of cold. It was almost night, and in her haste, she forgot any form of a jacket. She had no idea what in gods' name she was thinking, but it was as if it wasn't _her_ that was acting, it was as if she was in a dream and could do little to control her actions. She heard some people call out after her, but she paid them little heed, jogging down the steps of the frigid world as the small, domestic version of an astromech activated his rocket launchers and floated down the steps, turning its domed head around in its state of fluster. She started moving toward her ship, intent and getting inside and finding a jacket. Or something.

Her father always told her to trust her instincts. She was born of him, and had the Force within her. It was her untrained, raw ability that she couldn't harness, but she was always correct in instincts and judgement - Darth Vader once told her it was because of this Force. And now, her instincts told her to get as far away from this building as she can.

Suddenly, she heard the whine of spacecrafts as they sped down, and she looked on in horror as torpedoes flew through the air, and she felt a temporary warmth as the building exploded into rubble and flame. Screams of the miners filled the air, and Leia just stared on through the pandemonium. She took control of her head again, taking a hesitant step backwards.

That was the closest to a near-death experience she had ever been in. The building, the building that she had not long ago been about to sleep in, just became nothing but scraps of rubbish and metal. Everything was obliderated; the personnel, her pilots and escort, the greedy Kesselians even.

She suddenly recieved a hard blow to her shoulder as one burly miner knocked into her, sending her into an ungraceful heap onto the floor. Her cheek scraped roughly against the coarse, cold, ground, and she let out a cry and grimace at the unfamiliar pain. Then, with another cry, Leia jerked a knee up to her chest as her left ankle was tripped over, and she felt it start to throb. Another explosion sounded through the air. She grasped at the rocky, harsh surface, but her hands were turning numb and clumsy. With great difficulty, she heaved herself to her feet, leaning tenderly on her left foot. It hurt, but she didn't think it enough to be twisted or sprained. To her relief, the domestic astromech was still hovering somewhat above the heads of most miners. It knew to obey the sentients, and felt no attachment to the now ruined building.

She wiped hard pebbles off of her shoulder, then turned to where her ship was. Hopefully, she'd be able to take what she knew from her flying classes on Coruscant and be able to pilot the thing away from here; or at least stay in it until the bombardment stopped.

To her terror and frustration, her ship was reduced to bits of hot metal scattered all over the shipyard.

Kreth.

Leia, once again, was shoved violently in the shoulder, but she kept herself from falling this time. She took it as her hint to start limping away lest she collide with something - someone - again. In a matter of minutes - or seconds, or hours, she lost her sense of time - she arrived at what she recognized from within as Smuggler's Yard. People of all different species were going at top speed toward their ships, and Leia looked around desperately. She needed to get out of here.

There! A ramp was open to an old, battered freighter, and with the astromech following, she sprinted up it, and nearly fell into the floor when she reached the interior. There were opened smuggling compartments, filled with bundles of spice. Leia backpedaled quickly, closing the ramp and finding an alternate route to the cockpit.

"Plug yourself in!" she shouted at the astromech as she threw herself into the pilot's chair, and it acquiesced. Leia squinted at the controls. It was all too complicated for her, so she simply reached over for what seemed to be the power and pressed it.

Lights flickered on all around her, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of pleasure that something was going her way - that is, until she felt the ship rumble and shake and the distinct sound of something within the innards dying. Ah, Kreth. Oh well.

Leia grasped the joystick, and it lifted off the floor. She was faintly aware of her knuckles paling and her hands shaking, and beads of sweat forming at her hairline - she'd never flown anything this big before. She's never even really flown that much in her life, just taught how at classes. Which, everyone knew, was totally different than doing it for real. Especially in a situation where bombs were dropping all over the place. She knew that her flying was that of an... extreme amateur, but it'd have to do. She jerked the joystick toward her, and she felt her stomach drop as the ship turned vertically upwards. She struggled to regain control, but she was losing her cool as the ship responded to every quiver her hand made; it was shaking and spinning, and she was sure that other pilots would have laughed at her if the situation was not so dire.

_Graceful, Leia,_ she thought bitterly._ Great headline: Imperial Princess dies after hijacking a ship and crashing it into a mountain._

The little astromech she was using as a copilot beeped indignantly to her right, and she peered over at the monitor, and jerkily pulled her hands off of the steering... thing. It had requested to manipulate the ship's systems and pilot the thing itself, and she readily agreed. Stupid ship.

Besides, she'd rather die with more glory and less ridicule.


	6. Heart of the Bright Jewel

**Author's Note: **Whee, this chapter is actually quite long(er):D Sorry for the lack of updating, heh. I really like this chappy, too. Spent, like, three hours typing it. I think.

**Culf: **Haha, no the ship was empty when she stole it. And I'm not tellin' if it's the _Falcon_ or not. ;)  
**GreatOne: **Do you really think that they'll _like_ eachother in the beginning? Come on! Thats the fun part of the HLness!  
**SkywalkerChild: **x.x I think I have a love affair with adverbs. And commas. I tried to cut down in this chapter.  
**LVB: **Thanks:) Glad you're reading!  
**Dovasary: **_Chapter Four: _Yeah, I think I may have amde the dude a little... too old. Oh, well. It happens. But you're right - not a lotta young-uns hang around Darth Daddy. _Chapter Five: _- giggles - Okay, okay. I know that Leia's a bit... different. But you're right, I think the fact of whether she grows up as an Imperial or as a Rebel has an... effect. Yeah, and for the second half of _Strange Relations_ I was at my mom's. And she has Microsoft Word with a built-in spell check. I don't. x.x So I'm trying to look more carefully over this or go through a spell check online - but that's not going to well, because when I say 'change errors' it doesn't give the text back to me. x.x So I have to change it word by word.

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE: HEART OF THE BRIGHT JEWEL**

Exhaustion put her to sleep. Frustration put up the battle to keep her awake and staring at the blue-white swirl of hyperspace; it lost in the end. Exhaustion because she's just gone through the biggest adrenaline rush she hoped she'd never have again, coupled with a long and tiresome week. Frustration because communications were down (she had forgotten to secure them), she was in a ship that was so disorganized that it made her brain go haywire, there was a weird whiny noise emitted when she had set the coordinates to Coruscant and made the jump, and her favorite watch was destroyed so she couldn't check the time.

Leia had wished to curl up in a corner and wallow in her self-pity, but then she realized that that wouldn't help the matter. Wallowing in self-pity made her feel even more out of control, thereby adding to her already overwhelming amount of vexation. So she forced herself to attempt to make little patterns out of the hyperspace whirl until her head slumped sideways onto her shoulder and she began her restless sleep.

Sometime, possibly two hours later, her dream consisting of a woman trying to tell her something while simultaneously spinning in a bubble was interrupted by an incessant, urgent beeping. Her subconscious integrated it into the dream; every time the woman opened her mouth there would be a loud beep, almost like a foghorn. Then her conscious finally pushed her half-awake, and she yawned, stretching her sore shoulders and rubbing her lower back, which ached from sleeping in a sitting position. She shook her head a little bit, blinking blearily, before she finally seemed to remember that she was in an unfamiliar ship and it was beeping at her.

She nearly fell out of her chair as the ship jerked itself out of hyperspace. Leia pushed herself away from the controls, looking at all the lights and frantically trying to figure out what they _meant_. A few were blinking benevolently; others were very rapid or turning red. This couldn't be good. That was affirmed when she heard the depressing sound of something mechanical dying, along with the astromech twirling his - its 'head' around in alarm.

_I'll assume that was the hyperdrive_, the woman thought bitterly, still a bit drowsy and clumsy as she swiveled the chair to navicomputer. She pressed a button, hoping that it was the one that displayed current coordinates. To another dose of frustration, she was wrong, and nearly screamed out loud as it blinked once and turned off.

Leia had always prided herself in thriving under stress. She had always (incorrectly) assumed that all stress was the same. Stress was stress. It was concrete. Now, as she was all but beating the navicomputer into submission, she decided that stress was something that no one can know the full meaning of lest they get crushed by the intense theoretical weight of it all.

To her relief, she apparently hit a button that turned it back on, and she inspected the device closely before gently pushing a button. Numbers popped onto the screen, and she was relieved.

She frowned, and inclined her head slightly as she read the coordinates. Bright Jewel Systems Cluster, Ordance/Regional Depots. No where near Coruscant. She could see a planet in the way distance, estimating she could reach it in a few hours at sub-light speed. It stood out; it was a pink-hued dot against a black background, sprinkled with the occasional star.

_Ord Mantell_, she thought, with a light, contemplative frown. _Dotted with casinos; four billion people; weapons business; still relies on fossil fuels. _That was, on a broad scale, what she knew about the Heart of the Bright Jewel. The people of Ord Mantell weren't particularly corrupt like they were on shady places like Kessel or Nar Shadaa or Tatooine, nor were they peaceful and sophisticated like those of Alderaan or Naboo. Leia supposed it would be safe enough to land and contact her father and then hopefully abandon the bucket of bolts she was flying and board a ship built within the last millennium. She got a strange, sudden desire to see what it would be like to ride the new _Eagle/1138_. _Smoother than glass, compared to this_, she thought disdainfully, noting the oil streaks on the walls.

Pushing the really quite random thoughts aside, she got to her feet, arching her back in a stretch and resolving to never fall asleep in a chair again. She frowned, uncertainly flicking a switch on a data screen, trying to gather through the mess of numbers and letters whether or not she was going to survive the few hours it would take to make its way to Ord Mantell. She had relaxed since she was first jolted out of her sleep; perhaps the sight of civilization lulled her discomfiture or she was simply taken by surprise out of her somewhat restless doze. Either way, she felt better. _And hungry_, she decided, pushing a strand of brown hair away from her eyes. She hadn't eaten since lunch on Kessel, which seemed thousands of years ago.

Leia swiveled the chair as she pushed past it, having to double back as she hit the open compartments and walk the long way around. She didn't feel like putting them back together at the moment; the spice would have to stay uncovered. Besides, she had no worries about getting caught either; no one would dare accuse Princess Leia Skywalker of smuggling illegal spice. The idea was laughable; indeed, she nearly let out a very un-princess-like snort as she walked into what she took to be the kitchen.

It was equipped with the bare necessities that would make a kitchen a kitchen. Instead of a table, it simply had a bar with two mismatched stools - one stool quite larger than the other. She wrinkled her nose as she brushed a few shaggy hairs off of the counter and placed some used dishes in the sink. Egh. Dirty, dirty, unorganized people. She was beginning to feel frustrated again, missing the shiny cleanliness of her suite and the battle cruisers.

Shrugging, Leia reached into a cabinet as her stomach gave a loud rumble, fingers closing around a bottle of what she hoped was water. Upon pulling it out, she saw it was - Corellian Whiskey. She frowned, putting the half-empty bottle on the counter, resuming her digging.

Corellian Whiskey. Corellian Whiskey. Corellian Whiskey. Three more times. Three more bottles. And a suspicious looking piece of... something.

Frantically, she pulled open the door to the freezer. Ice. Shot glasses. Not bothering to ponder what in the worlds shot glasses were doing in the freezer and not in a cabinet, she flung open the refrigerator.

Mustard.

And yet more whiskey.

She groaned, slamming the door shut and watching it bounce back open before she pushed her foot against it, kicking it to make sure it stayed shut. Great. Just great. Now she broke her foot on top of everything.

She hopped over to one of the stools, sitting down sulkily and glaring at her stomach as it gave another sound like thunder. Stupid kitchen. Stupid ship. Stupid Kessel. Stupid... mustard.

Leia groaned again, burying her head in her arms. This was going to be a long two hours.

* * *

Leia felt she was slightly off in her estimates. Of course, the length of the trip could have been her imagination (seeing as her watch had mysteriously broken). But she arrived, nonetheless, at the moment she was about as far from the planet as one of its moons. The atmosphere was beautiful from orbit; she had never been to Ord Mantell before, and it deserved the name Heart of the Bright Jewel. Roughly three quarters of the surface was covered with pink clouds, and the remaining quarter she could see peeks of deep midnight blue ocean and the yellows and greens and browns of the land, occasionally a strong beam of light from the city shining through the atmosphere. 

She smoothly guided the ship leftwards, going for the more sparsely populated, forest area of the planet. Rather, she inferred that it was forest: it was a dark, shadowy green. It was a smooth ride, other than the jolt from entering the atmosphere.

She flew through the pink mist, and found herself correct; it was a small forest, with a few tiny towns on the way whose inhabitants looked up at the unfamiliar craft gliding through the air like a benign falcon. She was barely three hundred feet from the ground, flying parallel to it; Leia passed over the grasslands and started studying the horizon intently as she reached the treeline. She needed a small clearing, close enough to the edge but far away enough to not draw too much attention to herself. She was the Emperor's ambassador, after all; she couldn't afford attention without protection.

There! She widened her eyes, cringing lightly as she swooped around, trying not to think of hitting the trees and crashing now that she was so close to going home or completing her mission - the latter most likely. She winced, hearing the ship start to groan as it floated feet away from the ground, and she let out a breathe when it landed with a _thud_, and at an odd angle. Oh, well. She was alive; she can say that much. She beckoned to the astromech, which had been lulling the past few hours. It obediently started up, and went the short way as Leia walked the long way around the still-opened smuggling compartments filled with sacks of spice. She didn't know why she needed the little red droid. Possibly because she was afraid of going anywhere alone. She waited impatiently for it at the end, watching it start up its rocket launchers and begin floating its way across the spice.

Leia's eyes widened in horror. The... extremely... flammable spice.

Ahhh. Crap.

"NO!" she shouted, but it was too late. The heat from the rocket launchers scorched its way through the thick sacks, hitting the contents which burst into flame within moments. Squealing in surprise, the droid shot its way across, crashing into the wall as Leia dived out of the way.

Oh, this was not good. She cared very little about the ship, but she wasn't about to start a _forest fire_ because of a stupid shipment of spice that caught fire. She was such an idiot.

With speed she didn't know she contained, she tore into the kitchen, looking for the fire hose that all kitchens were supposed to have. The sooner the fire went out, the better. She wasn't about to die of a spice overdose because a few hundred pounds was burning feet away from her. As it was, an acrid, rich smell started settling, and she began to feel light-headed.

She bolted through the cabinet under the sink, pushing aside cleaning supplies that probably have never been used, and she found it. A long, deflated hose that she jerked out, almost tripping over various bottles and plastics. Reaching back down into the cabinet and turning the water in.

Leia was almost thrown backwards from the force of the water as it sprayed the refrigerator, then heaved it around the door frame and pointed it in the general direction of the spice fire, coughing in the heavy fumes, trying to clear her eyes. She was definitely dizzy now.

Steam and hissing sounds filled the area, and that was when Leia knew that she had to get out of the ship. The fire was put out enough by now. She almost blindly hit the pad next to the ramp, and practically fell out, her lungs and head screaming in protest at the fumes. She crawled the rest of the way down the ramp, an annoyed and scorched astromech tailing her. Once she hit grass and hard dirt, she collapsed, gasping. That was heavy spice, and she could smell the fumes still, although they carried no effect. She sincerely hoped that she didn't inhale enough to get an addiction; after all, she didn't experience any sort of high. At least, she thought she didn't. She's never been high before, but she was sure that what she felt wasn't it.

She clearly remembered everything, and sharply - wasn't spice supposed to daze your memory? Very few spices let you keep consciousness, and she prayed for all she was worth that _that_ wasn't one of the very few spices.

She lay on the ground several more moments, letting her headache calm and taking numerous breathes of clean, crisp, dusk air. Minutes passed. Then she picked herself up, looking over her shoulder at the ship. She seemed to have gotten the fire in time, especially since she left the hose running in her haste to get out. Trickles of gritty water fell from the ship and onto the clearing floor.

She looked ahead, the sun's last rays struggling their way over the dark canopy. She stepped forward, heading for the town.

* * *

The stroll through the forest was a pleasant one, and the grasslands were flat and airy. From all she's heard of Ord Mantell, the nature aspect was definitely not included. Within half an hour of walking, the droid floating alongside her in silence, she reached a small town. 

It was a standard town. There were small restaurants, stores, parks. It wasn't big, and people were walking pleasantly with one another, commenting on trivial things such as the weather or the trees. It dumbfounded Leia for a moment. Her life was full of high-powered, stiff, formal, busy people, and the sheer leisure of this place came as a shock. Not realizing she had stopped, she started walking again, making sure to keep her chin high and her back straight and her eyes set in a sort of glare.

One of the biggest things that hit her was that no one seemed to care. It was backwards. Unlike in the Palace on Coruscant or on the ships, she received no bows or respectful nods of acknowledgment. People subconsciously parted as she walked her way through, looking for a public communications device.

There were some, of course, but it there were only two as far as she could see, and one was occupied by a harassed-looking mother yelling into the receiver and a happily gossiping teenager. She considered ordering them to let her speak after she checked her malfunctioning watch, but decided against it. She wasn't that stuck up. With a sigh, she glanced around, slumping lightly. There was no one around here to impress, she might as well act... normal. Ordinary.

Rubbing her arms, Leia ducked into a corner store. If she was going to wait, she may as well get something to eat. She felt as if she were on the brink of starvation. She went immediatley to the banking device, successfully withdrawing a credit chip. These people weren't too backwards, she supposed.

A few minutes later, clutching a bag of bagels and some kaffe. She was about to loose all of her dignity and just champ her way through the bagels where she was standing, but, fortunately for Leia, she had an extraordinary amount of self-control. She kept her head high and her eyes quiet. The tall, Corellian-looking man in front of her finished purchasing his bottle of alcohol (_Drunken Corellian_, she thought with spite, accompanied with a glare at his back as he made his way slowly out of the store. She seemed to have placed a special enmity aside for Corellians), she bought her food, practically ran out of the store and grabbed a bite of her first buttery, warm, fluffy bagel.

Oh, bliss.

Much happier now, Leia made her way down the almost barren street and back to the vacated comm devices. She set the bag and kaffe down by her feet, holding the bagel between her teeth as she put a handkerchief in her hand and picked up the comm.

She certainly wasn't expecting to feel the unmistakable sensation of a heavy blaster pressed into her back.

* * *

:D 


	7. Undesired Meetings

**Author's Note: **Okay, peeps. I think this chapter is a _bit_ filler - but I read over it before I posted (surpise! although watch there still be some mistakes x.x), and I have a feeling that most of you... will like this. ;)

**SkywalkerChild: **Bleh. I've always had trouble with action writing. It takes me forever for me to type something that seems fairly decent. x.x But you're right - Leia's not having the best of luck. xD  
**Dovasary: **- giggles insanely - shuts up- Thank you. Yes, I happened to like my last chapter _much_ better than the one before. It was longer (a new thing for me!). Ah, of course, I've already planned how our little farmboy's going to enter this story. :) I'm already planning in my head what's going to happen; now I can't wait to write it. LOL. About the mustard - yes, I hate it myself. I can seriously taste any drop of mustard on anything. Lol, I got the idea, because my father just found an unopened bottle of fifteen year-old mustard in my cabinet. --; That's as old as I am - and I've moved four times, yet the cursed mustard remains. Haha.  
**P.P.M.:** Lol! That would be funny - only I've already got this all Han/Leia thing planned out, and...yeah. Lol, but good idea. Yes, you will see Han very... very soon.  
**Jaina Solo Potter: **Ah, JSP. What would life (or a story) be like without Han/Leia? xD  
**Isa the FagHag: **Thank you so much:D

**

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**CHAPTER SIX: UNDESIRED MEETINGS**

Leia froze, the bagel still in her mouth and the comm in her handkerchief in her hand. This was bad; it was unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and she was sharply aware that she was unprotected as well. No blaster, no guard, just her and that stupid droid that was being useless at her side.

"Drop it," snarled a voice, so close to her ear that she wanted to smash her comm into his head for the violation. Instead, she stood up straighter to try and mask her fear. She bit hard on her bagel, watching movelessly as the rest of its buttery goodness fell to the floor. She chewed slowly, as if contemplating to comply.

"_Drop_ it!" he repeated with more force, although his voice didn't rise in volume. After she hesitated for a second, and heard the _click_ of the blaster being set.

The comm clattered to the pavement.

"Get in there!" he said roughly, pushing her into an alleyway. "And don' turn around," he snarled, leading her around the corner.

They were well out of sight of anyone in the street.

"Are you armed?" he asked, and Leia felt the tension of the blaster point on her spine lessen a bit.

Throughout this, all that she could think about was that she didn't have a guard. That sent a rush of fear and ununsed adrenaline through her body; fire, ice. The cold fear won, and she stood, shaking, staring right ahead at the wall and not finding any ability to talk. So she shook her head silently.

"What was that?" he sneered into her ear. She forced her jaw to thaw.

"I said, _no_," Leia said with unnerving calmness that surprised even her, trying to suppress the urge to panic. _Keep in control, keep out of danger,_ she recited to herself in her head. It was calming. This shouldn't be a big deal. He was probably some petty thief who saw her walk out of a store and decided that she had money so he would steal it from her. When he found out that she had no spare credits on her, he would most likely steal her food (jerk.), let her go, then run, or he would steal her food, pull the tr...

Well, he'd let her go. She was the _imperial princess_, for gods' sake, he couldn't kill _her_...

And it hit her like a giant fist. He wouldn't _dare_ shoot Princess Skywalker, would he? He wouldn't be so smug anymore, huh?

Armed with this new outlook, she grinned like a maniac, very pleased with herself.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

It was rhetoric. But he seemed to throw that aside.

"Nah," she could hear the shrug in his voice, and stiffened when the blaster pressed deeper into her spine. That would leave a mark. "Should I? What does it matter, anyway? You're still some lil' _thief_," he spat the word through clenched teeth, and leaned closer. "who stole my ship and burned my shipment. Any idea how much that _costs,_" Again, he spat the word, and Leia just kept herself from gasping as she felt another rough jab. "little girl?"

So this wasn't some petty thief. He wasn't just someone who wanted her food. This was the ship's pilot and owner; how he tracked her down, she couldn't fathom.

"I have some idea," she answered wryly, arching her back in a hope to get away from his gun. It was painful.

A snort from him made it clear that he thought she was full of bantha dung.

"My father wouldn't like this disrespect that you're showing me."

"Yeah? And what's daddy gonna do 'bout it?" Derisive.

"You tell me. From what you've heard of Darth Vader, what do you think he would do?"

That should have done it. Rumors were abundant about the powers that the Sith Lord possessed; the name instilled fear, Leia knew.

But it didn't. He only proceeded to laugh, causing dread to take root in Leia's heart.

"Darth Vader?" she felt his body heat near her ear again. "I like a sense o' humor in a woman," he leered. She flinched, trying to push away any evil thoughts of what he was able to do to her in that alley, with no one looking.

"Don't touch me," she warned. Even to her, it sounded weak.

"Or what? What can you do to me, girl?"

"Nothing. At the moment," she added. (She had to admit, it was more like a 'Nothing, until I get a hold of daddy and he kills you because I'm really powerless without a gun or anything and with my food back by the comm I'm weak as well and if it weren't for your stupid ship and your stupid mustard or the stupid bombing we wouldn't _be_ in this situation so can't you see I'm really helpless and let me go?' But not like she could say that.)

"You can save my neck, that's what you can do. My employer isn't gunna be happy with his shipment destroyed... of course, being Darth Vader's spawn, you must be rich?" he mocked. She didn't answer, which he took as an inability to come up with a retort. Which wasn't true: his statement had scared her stiff again. "Now," he started. "We're gonna go back to the ship, you're gonna help me repair it, then we're gonna get the hell outta here so you can explain to my employer why he doesn't have the spice. Got it?"

She tried protest, but her jaw was glued shut again, save the trembling.

"C'mon," he turned her around roughly, shoving her before she could get her muscles to loosen. She stumbled, and all of the sudden the pavement was flying at her face as she collapsed onto the hard ground. In her palms was a searing pain where they had tried to break her fall against the coarse duracrete.

"Dammit..." she heard him mutter, and felt a stong hand grip itself onto her upper arm and heave her off the ground. She purposely hung like a limp rag doll until she was set atop her feet.

She finally saw the face of her attacker.

It was still dark, but she was able to make out basic features. Dark hair, probably lighter when hit by sunlight, dark eyes, sun-browned skin, a long-sleeved shirt with a vest of indistinct color thrown over it; he was very tall. A heavy-duty blaster in his right hand.

She felt a glimmer of recognition, and her mind played a memory. _The man from the store..._ Leia felt her jaw tighten in anger at the realization that a man of _his_ likes was holding her hostage with a blaster.

Then something moved over his shoulder.

The various shades of back further down the alleyway seemed to manifest a large, hairy, heavily-armed shadow. It stepped quietly until it was just clear of the man's shoulder. Large teeth gleamed in the dark, and from within its throat came a menacing, dark, low howl. A Wookiee. A vicious, infamous, terribly powerful native from Kashyyyk.

Leia's eyes widened, and she falteringly stepped backwards, unaware that there was a tight grip still on her arm. She uselessly tried to get away, terror surging through her. That _thing_ was going to kill her, eat her, break every bone in her body and feed her to its family...

"Whaddya mean, 'is this necessary?'" he asked, annoyed, wheeling his head around to stare at his companion. Leia had no idea who he was talking to; she assumed insanity.

Or could that thing really understand Basic?

"Who the hell cares if she's just a girl?" He looked back at her dubiously, studying. Leia tried to set a glare and firm jaw. She failed miserably. "Your neck is on the line, too. You know what Jabba's like," he muttered. "The girl was pro'ly a slave on Kessel, got bombed, took the chance to steal our ship and we tracked 'er down."

At this, Leia felt a stir of indignance and anger. "If I were a slave, how would I have been able to fly that piece of fodder?" she ask, in the clearest and most regal voice she could muster while being held hostage by a Wookiee and a man that looked dangerously careless with his weapon.

"Dunno. Were you a pilot that tried to steal some spice and got caught? Awful touchy 'bout their money, those Kesselians..."

"Yes, I know."

"So you were?"

"So I was what?"

"A pilot-turned-slave."

"No!"

"I'on't believe you."

"I don't care. Now, if you don't let me go, my father will have your head and every other limb he's able to tear off," she warned. Even though her father wasn't one for dismemberment - for obvious reasons.

"Listen, girly, even if your daddy _is_ Vader or whatever his name is, I'll be long gone by the time he's ever heard o' this. That '_piece of fodder_' happens to be the fastest ship in the galaxy; and the galaxy's a big place, y'know."

"I know better than anyone, _Covrl_," she hissed. _Covrl_ was the derisive, native Coruscanti word translating into _one of Corellia_. Native Coruscanti was rarely spoken anymore, seeing that the vast majority of the planet was foreigners who spoke in their own tongue or Basic. It was still spoken, although, as a language of nobility and intelligence among those on the high parts of the social chain.

She could see his scowl in the dark. "Chewie's one for dismemberment, too," he warned, nastily. Chewie, she supposed, was the Wookiee next to him. But she believed the statement; it was actually part of their infamousness, the fact that they tended to pull people's arms out of their sockets when they got angry. Needless to say, it shut her up.

They glared at eachother for a moment, and Leia felt deep-seated resentment and enmity stir up from the bottom of her stomach. _Typical Corellian_...

"Get goin'," he spat, turning her roughly around and giving her a shove in the middle of her shoulderblades. Again, she stumbled, but didn't fall. "You get to help me get rid of the dregs and then you can face _Jabba_."

"I'll scream when we get out into the street."

He pressed his blaster into the well-worn spot of her back. "No. You won't," he assured. Leia winced, feeling the forming bruise on her back gave a painful twang.

* * *

It had been easy for him to lead her through the edge of town without notice. Of course, he wouldn't be holding her at gun point in the middle of everywhere; not even a Corellian most likely drunk out of his wits three quarters of the day would be that stupid. No; to Leia's utter revulsion he had slipped an arm around her lower back as if they were going to a serene walk under the quiet moonlight, with Chewie walking so close behind them that she could've felt the thing's breath on her neck had she been taller.

They had walked in almost absolute silence through the field; Leia had no idea what had happened to the stupid droid. She remained stiff, her steps furtive and forced, her lips set thin and eyes hard as she determinedly stared ahead.

The one conversation they had was brief, but very enlightening. Of course, the man had an advanced tracker on his beloved ship; that's how they traced it here, they had paid passage to a man who was heading this way from Kessel. Of course, when they arrived, they would have seen the burned, wet wreck Leia made out of it. According to him, the Wookiee was able to smell her stench from halfway down the field, she smelled so much of the spice she had (accidently!) burned. This had caused Leia to smell her sleeve - she didn't smell anything.

Stupid Wookiee.

An end to the conversation, and now they were at the smelly, damp interior of the ship again. The ship she had hoped for all of her life's worth that she would never have to lay eyes upon again. Unfortunatley...

She cast a disdainful glance around the charred hallway, and glared at the pile of the dregs of spice in its compartments. She considered blaming the whole thing on him: he was the idiot to leave them open. But, considering that he looked much more dangerous as he was freshly reminded of his loss, she decided to hold that for later.

Which there wouldn't be. Because she was going to get the hell out of there.


	8. Hydrospanners and Plans

**Word Count: 1,508**

**Author's Note: **- points - See? Its a bigger chapter! Wanna know why? Because I'm celebrating today. Today is my one-year-anniversary of seeing my first Original Trilogy movie - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK! Yay!

(Please don't ask me how I remember that.)

**GreatOne: **Lol! Nope. Han's going to be forever cursed with lost spice shipments in every Star Wars story. :) Lol, nah, Han can't blast Leia. :) Although, I should have posted that as a Halloween trick. Haha. By the way, Artoo hasn't come in yet - that one astromech is just... some random astromech. xD  
**Estel la Rodeuse:**Thank you! Don't worry, Luke and Obi-Wan will come in. :)  
**Dovasary... err, Skychaser: **Lol, what would Han be if he wasn't an ass in the beginning of a Star Wars movie? But, yes, Chewie is still Chewie-like. :) And Leia has a backbone... you'll see that in this chapter, and as the story progresses, heh. Thank you! I always look forward to your reviews!  
**Damaris: **Thank you so much! I'm assuming you're also Damaris350?  
**cookiemunster: **Thanks! D Nah, Zach is imperial through and through. I think you may have misread that part - I said that Leia was a good liar, lol.  
**dancing naked: **Aw, thanks. ) - blushes - Here's an update!  
**SkywalkerChild: **LOL. I didn't know you liked threats of dismemberment so much, haha. Thanks! D

**

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**CHAPTER SEVEN: HYDROSPANNERS AND PLANS**

"Are you gonna stay in there all day?"

Leia raised her eyes, turning her features into a fixed, loathing glare as she looked at the tall man leaning casually in the doorway of the room (or broom closet) that he had 'given' her to sleep in. (_Made her sleep in_, more like.)

She had more or less been sitting in the stupid room the entire week that she had been trapped with _that _man and his _thing_. She only went out for meals or to help - when she was threatened with discontinution of said meals. Otherwise, she'd lay on her back over the hard cot and the soft covers, watching the rays of light from the window make their way slowly across the room, illuminating the particles of dust floating through the air.

These long hours of her stubborn refusal had (tactfully, she thought) been used to help to formulate an escape plan. She had already tried to run once before - apparently, it hadn't gone too well. She wasn't counting on them being such light sleepers, and she had to admit that simply walking out in the dead of night and expecting progress was rather tactless.

Leia had had a brief, sudden, strange moment of curiosity that night, when they shoved her back into her room and locked the door. As she had watched the door close on their backs, dulling the sounds of loud arguing, she had wondered how such an odd pair came to be, and what hell they must have gone through to have the second nature of sleeping with one eye -_ both eyes_ open.

She squashed the curiosity, and made it a point to not speak with them the rest of her stay with them. She was going home soon.

A small smile spread across her lips at the thought of home, of her father. She didn't spend enough time with him - he was usually out on some top-secret mission from Palpatine, but she relished their moments together. They didn't have a conventional father-daughter thing going on, but she was comfortable and safe around him. She had never felt his touch, nor seen his face - only gloved fingertips and a mask came to mind when she thought of him.

_Anakin Skywalker_.

That was his name. _Was_ his name.

_Padmé Amidala Naberrie Skywalker_.

Her mother's name. That was about all Leia knew of her mother. Some nights, when she thought really hard, she would get images of a young, brunette woman - but those dissapeered as quickly as they came.

"Hey."

The deep voice interrupted her from her thoughts.

"You want food? Or d'you wanna starve?"

_Like he cares_.

Begrudingly, she stood, straightening out her clothes, still charred and dirty from the night at Kessel. Carefully avoiding him, she stomped past him and made the short way to the cabin, stiffly lowering herself to an added stool to the counter and staring at the sink in front of her. The Wookiee walked in, settling next to her, and she automatically leaned away; Chewbacca (apparantly, that was his name) frightened her to no end, even though he's done nothing to hurt her.

The man walked in (she didn't even _know_ his name), and scooped something that looked like stir-fry onto three plates, clattering hers in front of her, accompanied with a scowl. She wrinkled her nose at it, putting on a great show of reluctantly picking up her fork and stabbing some pieces of meat.

To tell the truth, it wasn't bad - not as good as what she got on Super Star Destroyers, but it was passable.

Slowly, Leia chewed it, casting a glance around the Wookiee at him. He was studying her with immense dislike, looking like he would like nothing better to dump her plate over her head. She gave him a coy smirk, then turned nonchalantly back to the food, putting a piece of vegetable into her mouth and starting to chew it with painstaking slowness. She missed the look of angry surprise coming from his eyes.

"I'm going to help you repair today," she stated suddenly.

It was so uncharacteristic and out of the blue that both the man and the Wookiee swiveled their heads around to stare at her.

"What?"

Chewbacca, simultaneously, let out a growl that went up in pitch at the end - she assumed it to be the Wookiee equivalent for, 'what?'

"_I said_, that I want to help you," she restated slowly, mockingly, like they were both three years old.

"Why?" asked the man immediatley, suspiciously.

_This is where it has to work,_ she thought, her nerves dancing. "I have..." she put on a sly face. "Ulterior motives," she finished after a dramatic pause, perking a brow at them, struggling to keep her nerves under control.

They both look at her blankly for a second.

Then the man smirked and shook his head, as if she were joking. Leia suppressed a grin and yell of triumph, watching him finish his dinner with a great deal of self-conflict between restraint and the desire to start jumping up and down.

He finished, sliding his plate into the sink while Chewie howled something to him.

"Yeah, yeah, Chewie, I know..." he said, before meeting Leia in the eye. "Be out by the ramp in five minutes. You're gonna help rewire everythin' that was destroyed, got it?" he asked, seriously, pointing a finger at her. Leia just nodded cooly.

They left. She waited a few seconds for their footsteps to dissapper.

She hopped out of her chair, and did a twirl of delight.

* * *

"Hand me the hydrospanner!" 

"This?"

"No!"

"What about this?"

"No!"

"This one?"

"Yeah!" he yelled, frusterated. Leia was smirking inwardly, sitting on the the edge of the gray slab of durasteel with her feet dangling off. The man, the captain of the ship, had taken off a whole piece of the bottom of the ship in the area that was burned, and she could see him lying on his back in hard dirt and prickly grass. It was such an awkward position that she had to be the one handing him the tools, from above.

They've been going at this for an hour. Leia was really clueless about everything. Within the first fifteen minutes, he had caught her trying to force a wire into the wrong socket, and banned her from working, and just made her become his assistant.

It was amusing, really.

She looked at the hydrospanner in her right hand, and the other tool thing in her left hand.

"What's the difference?" she asked.

"Whaddya mean, 'what's the difference'?"

"They appear to be the same thing," she remarked, tossing the hydrospanner down at him.

The captain sighed in frusteration. "There's a huge difference! See?" he pointed to something on the tool. "This one has a bolt right here. The other one doesn't."

Leia looked at the tool in her hand, slowly turning it over. "... So?"

He didn't answer, just grumbled something, starting to work again. Leia sighed, watching him work for a moment. The plan was going completely according to plan. Her eyes fell on the tool in her left hand once again. She turned it over in her fingers, studying the notches, lightly tossing it into the edge and catching it again.

A movement caught her eye, and Chewbacca the Wookiee made his way inside the ship, closing himself into the refresher.

Perfect.

Silently, she moved over to the refresher door, then, using the tool in her hand, bashed the controls to the side. Sparks flew, and she heard a roar from inside, then jumped back in surprise as the door banged and shuddered as an amazing force pounded on it.

But it stayed fast.

Leia's heart was beating unnaturally quickly. She heard the captain's voice. "What the hell is goin' on up there!"

Leia moved over the hole in the floor, looking down at him. Their eyes locked for a moment.

She suddenly brought her hand around, throwing the tool down at him. The position he was in was so awkward that he couldn't move out of the way quickly enough.

The heavy tool struck him in the forehead; he slumped, unconcious.

Unconcious? She leaned over, studying him, her heart's beat quickening. Then she saw the rise and fall of his chest from his deep breathing, and she straightened with relief.

Then it struck her: why did she care?

She pushed the thought aside, not wanting to believe that she actually was concerned - this man almost kidnapped her. Practically did.

A bang on the refresher door brought her to her senses. She had to get out.

Leia wheeled around, racing down the ramp and onto the ground, running as fast as her feet would carry her into the woods.

* * *

She had stopped in the nearby town, deciding to contact her father _after_ she was on her way back to him. 

But she had needed to get something.

She walked out of the store back to her speeder, pocketing her new sporting blaster pistol.


	9. The Space Station

**Author's Note: **Yeah. Sorry it took so long. My teachers all seem to be under the impression that they're the only class that gives homework. x.x I like this chapter, personally. Its a tiny bit filler, but it ends nicely - well, you get to tell me whether you think it does or not. :)

Er, there may be some complications regarding future updates. On the fifteenth, my broken house starts to get un-brokified, and I'm leaving for Maryland on the twenty-first to visit my mom and then there's a sizable chance that I'm going to move to... egh... Florida. xx Just warning you all.

**Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi: **Thanks:) Yeah, there'll be Han/Leia in it (I can't live without those two, hehe), but it won't be the main focus. We've only just touched the main focus now - I'm really glad you like the father/daughter relationship. I probably put the most thought into that, because I have to portray a Vader that is believable as a Sith Lord and a father at the same time.  
**dweem-angel: **Thanks so much:DD  
**DarthGladiator45:**LOL. Probably, if Han gets caught. xDD  
**Skywalker Child: **Thank you. :) Seven of Nine... err, I'm not quite sure if I'm right about this, but is that Star Trek? I'm not a trekkie, but my mom is. :)  
**SoaringEagle: **Aww, Leia can't watch Vader get killed:( Lol, butyeah, I like Obi-Wan, too - he's my favorite character in the prequel era, McGregor portrays him well, I think probably the best actor in Episodes I-III. And then Alec Guiness is, of course, awesome. You'll see a bit of him, and Luke will come in and stay in. :)

**

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**CHAPTER EIGHT: THE SPACE STATION**

"_Executor._ This is Ambassador Leia Skywalker, requesting permission to land."

There was a bout of faint static, Then, a male's voice: "Princess?" it asked with a mixure of disbelief and wonder.

"Yes, this is the ambassador," Leia responded wearily, wishing that the man was a little more professional about it all. "Requesting permission to land," she reminded.

More static, some shuffling and indiscernable voices, then the man's voice broke clearly across the speaker again. "Permission granted, miss, please proceed to platform 27F. But, Princess..."

Leia had been about to shut off the speaker, but felt a twinge of annoyance as the man delayed her. "Yes?"

"If you are looking for the Lord Vader, he is not aboard the _Executor_."

"What d'you mean, 'he's not aboard the Executor'?"

"Why, Ambassador Princess, the Lord Vader was assigned by His Excellency to oversee Grand Moff Tarkin on the new space station."

_Why didn't he tell me this in the first place?_

"I can transmit coordinates, if you would like."

_As opposed to me using my non-existant Force-honed abilities to _sense_ my way to him?_ Leia thought sourly, although not voicing it aloud.

"Proceed," Leia said dismissively, picking up her new gun from the empty seat next to her and looking at it idly. It was a standard weapon, used for show by most members of the aristocracy, not as heavy as a DL-44 or blaster rifle, but effective nonetheless. After her first incident of being unarmed and naïve led to an almost-kidnapping, she had decided that she wouldn't walk around Ord Mantell like a vulnerable three year-old. Although she had met no more obstacles on the way, the gun made her feel much more safe and ready. A few towns away from where she had landed, she had rented a small, one to two man ship, and flew off to where she knew the Executor would be floating (there had been no more missions for that particular Star Destroyer for a few weeks).

A beep told her that the coordinates had been sent, and, after saying a brief work of thanks to the receptor, she cut off the transmission.

_The new space station..._ she mulled over the man's words in her head. Surely the rumors couldn't be true? If they were, the Emporer -- or at least her father -- would have informed her...

She checked the coordinates, where the space station was supposed to be at this time. The Alderaan system... why were they at the Alderaan system? The Alderaan system had no weapons since the Clone Wars, last time she checked. Just a smattering of guards and police...

Sighing, she once again set the coordinates for the jump to hyperspace. She was growing to hate flying.

* * *

Like a rogue, dark star, it hung in the cold and empty void of space, in clear contrast with the beautiful blue-green orb just beyond it. At first, Leia took the station to be a moon; then she remembered that Alderaan had no moons.

It hit her with a resounding blow; space stations were _not_ that big. It couldn't be a space station. But it was. That's what it was called. She explicitly heard 'space station'.

But, according to the rumors, it was the new indisputable weapon of the Empire. But they _were _only rumors - and as a rule of default, of both being a poitician and Darth Vader's daughter, she wasn't supposed to believe the various whisperings of the galaxy.

If it weren't a weapon, they sure did a good job of making it intimidating. Huge and round and gray and seemingly faultless, except for a round crater in the northern hemisphere of the station. (Were space stations even _allowed_ to have northern hemispheres? Weren't they supposed to be small enough for it to simply be referred to as the 'top half'? As in the top half of a marble, not as in the top half of a _planet_?)

Leia relieved the pressure on her lip - she had been biting it in thought - and impatiently checked her watch before realizing that her wrist was still empty from her watch being destroyed. Ah, damn.

"Unidentified vehicle, please identify," stated a voice through the speaker. Leaning forward to reach, she pressed the button to start communications on her end.

"This is Ambassador Skywalker, requesting to land," she said dryly, automatically.

It was a wait until she heard a voice again. "Permission granted, you will be taken to Bay 1138."

Then she felt what must have been the pull of an exceptionally strong tractor beam. She sat back in her seat, watching with wonder her ship approaching the _station_. Getting closer, it didn't look like the perfect orb as it had before; there were various crevices and notches and ditches of complicated machinery and guns faulting its surface.

She was encompassed within the metallic rind seconds later, and was greeted by bright and blindingly white lights, so different from the dark coldness of space. Dotted throughout bay were men in the rigid dark uniforms of the officers and the white of the mindless stormtroopers. With the hisses and beeps of machinery, she heard the ramp in the tiny ship she had rented be lowered; trying to look as dignified as possible with dirty and frayed clothing and a messy bun, she strode out of the ship.

Almost on cue, every officer in the bay rushed up to her, with inquiries as to her health and the past few days and why in gods' name did she have a gun?; but she had no eyes for them, simply pushing through and toward another rigid, dark figure that was walking with alarming quickness and purpose across the bay.

"Father," she said, formally, ater they had stopped within a foot of eachother.

He didn't answer right away, and she felt herrself start to fidget as slightly as she could under his gaze. He couldn't have expected her to show up in perfect attire, could he?

He nodded in acknowledgement, and with a wave of his fingers the officers, who had bunched up around the pair, suddenly all found better things to do. Then he jerked his finger at her, and she hurried to comply. Together, they walked out of the hangar.

It was a task for her to keep up with his long strides, and she barely managed it. Leia couldn't help but think that her father, Darth Vader, was in a strange mood. She wondered if he suddenly had become touchy with the way she was dressed since she's been gone.

In silence, they walked into what appeared to be her new room (it had some of the items from her old room on the Star Destroyer). Leia carefully opened a drawer, then locked the blaster and set it inside, gently closing it. Her father didn't speak, but it was apparent that he was there; even without the mechanical breathing, she knew she would always know when her father was around.

She sat down, feeling slightly uncomfortable, like a child that knew she was in trouble.

"I was worried."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't contact you," apologized Leia. "I, er, ran into some trouble on Ord Mantell. And on Kessel."

"I heard about Kessel. I have my best officers gathering intelligence on the attacks as we speak."

"I had to hijack a ship," she suddenly stated. "Some old freighter."

She felt a surge of emotion run from her stomach to her chest, giving her a feeling of euphoric elation from - what? Happiness? _Pride_?

... What in the gods' name would she be so proud about? She almost crashed the thing and then it practically not-so-spontaneously combusted. Not one of her best experiences.

There was a moment of pause between her and her father, a dark, solid tower, heavy breathing filling the air - no change at all.

Perhaps...

No. Did she feel her _father's_ pride? Of course not, that was impossible. Or was it really?

She glanced up to where his face should of been, as if hoping for some clue; the black mask remained as stolid as ever.

"Recount to me your experiences, from the moment we ended our comm call." His voice ended her train of thought.

Leia took a deep breath; she was halfway hoping for some rest and a decent meal before she had to debrief. Apparently not; she should've known.

So the tale began. For almost an hour, she explained, with as much detail as she could muster, everything that happened: the building exploding, her hijacking the ship and landing on Ord Mantell, the ship's owner discovering her at the comm unit, all until her arrival at the station. Darth Vader listened silently and patiently, with no interruptions - although he gave a little jerk of anger when Leia told of the man and his Wookiee.

She finished, exhausted, her eyelids becoming a deadwight with each passing second. She felt so comfortable now, in a familiar Imperial setting, near her father and comfortable beds and decent meals.

Through the periodically closing eyelids, Leia saw her father hesitate - a feat in itself. She could nearly see conflict, then -

"Good night. We'll discuss this more tomorrrow."

A strong hand pulled her up from the couch she was about to collapse backwards into, and led her over to the bed. She made a light, childish noise, somewhere along the lines of 'I can do this myself' - something to that effect. Her father didn't answer, and the light rustling of covers being pulled back was heard. She didn't even feel herself being lowered amongst the sheets and pillows, but she relished in their warmth and softness once they touched her skin.

Leia was asleep by the time Darth Vader tucked his little girl into bed, his gloved and metal hand touching her cheek in a most un-Sithly way, and then sweeping out of the room.

_

* * *

She dreamt of a boy bearing the marks of his world, his hair shining in cheerful incandescence under twin dawns._


	10. Red Alert

**Author's Note: **Whew! This chapter took a _long_ time to write. Obviously. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year's to everyone. :)

**Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi: **Thank you. :) I'm so glad, I try my hardest at that relationship.  
**P.P.M: **Yeah, actually, he did. You find out about it this chapter.  
**SkywalkerChild: **xDD Lol, I think that's inevitable for all daughters. Yup, Luke should be coming... soon.  
**Skychaser: **Yeah, he does care. :)Haha, thnk you. You dunno how much thought I put into that last line. :D Oh, she'll meet the... 'boy' in time. Thanks again for reviewing!  
**doreenthatshot: **Thanks! Here's an update.  
**DaimondoftheMoon:** Yeah, I've read a few Luke/Vader stories. :) Thanks!

**

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**CHAPTER NINE: RED ALERT**

Rhythmically, the fork stabbed into the sprigs of greens as the Imperial Princess's thoughts brooded elsewhere.

She had emerged from a one-on-one meeting with the Emperor himself. Gods, His Excellency was scary when he wanted to be. In fact, he was scary even when he didn't want to be. In no kind terms had he told Leia that he wanted the negotiations done _quickly_ this time (which was, in fact, in a week). She had been expecting him to say '_or else_', but he thankfully maintained a degree of respect around his apprentice's daughter.

Her thoughts weren't being brooded upon the meeting.

She felt unnaturally restless, which also had nothing to do with the meeting, as if she were forgetting something but she couldn't remember what she was forgetting, but if she thought of certain things she'd get a flash of remembrance then all would go to hell again. In this case, it was a tube of metal and the color blue.

Leia abruptly stuffed some bits of lettuce into her mouth. Damn.

The door to her suite opened, and she glanced up to find her father striding in and stopping in front of the table in front of her. Jerkily, he pulled out a chair and slowly and cautiously sat.

The young woman smiled, and swallowed. "Good morning."

He moved his head in an acknowledging nod. "Are you feeling well today?" It wasn't a formality, which was one think Leia liked about him.

"Yes, actually. Now that I got some sleep." Almost automatically, she started to slowly stab at her salad once again. A strange choice of breakfast, but she hadn't had greens in a while and she was hungry from her recent adrenaline rush.

"Did you get any source of news while you weren't here?" the man asked.

Shrugging, she shook her head.

"The Emperor dissolved the Imperial Senate yesterday."

Leia, who had been putting a bite into her mouth, choked. The Emperor hadn't mentioned _that_. "_What_? Are – why…," she struggled. Swallowing, she tried to formulate her thoughts.

Why in all hells would the Emperor dissolve the _Senate_? He wouldn't be able to maintain control of the systems once _this_ filtered through the galaxy! There would be a massive uprising – people liked to think that they were represented, since they didn't know that the Senate had the most minimal amount of power; they would only think the Emperor was stealing power he unknowingly already had. And rebellion would break out.

After a few seconds of staring, she managed to untie her tongue. "_Why_ has the Senate been dissolved?"

"The Emperor suspects… disloyalty within the bureaucracy."

"_What_?"

"Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan - " The hate in his voice was nearly palpable. " - has been found to be a Rebel spy. As of now, he is detained within this station."

She simply stared, the salad in front of her quite forgotten. Senator Bail Organa was the _last_ person she would have guessed to have been a spy. A dark and quiet man, he always had a thoughtful and melancholic aura around him. He walked with a limp, and the left side of his face seemed numb and showed very little emotion – head injury, Leia suspected. He wasn't the _spy_ type of guy; he was strange, frankly and admittedly, but he always seemed a very benevolent and go-with-the-flow man.

_That's probably what made him so good_, Leia thought bitterly, feeling newfound contempt for the man.

Nonetheless, he was a prominent and one of the more powerful and _popular_ members of the late Senate; if he was a spy, there was no doubt that there were more.

"What awaits him?"

"Interrogation and death," Darth Vader said, with a hint of pure satisfaction.

Ah, interrogation torture. While brutal, it was nonetheless extremely effective. Only an individual with a very strong mind can endure the hours of harsh spices and mental agony.

But the traitors and rebels more than deserved it.

Nodding her head slowly, Leia approved – but there was still one flaw with the new organization of the Empore. "And the systems? How will we stop them from joining the Rebellion?"

"The moffs now have control over their respective systems," the Dark Lord intoned.

Leia frowned at this new piece of information. The governors were ruthless; not even she approved over everything they had done thus far. She hadn't forgotten the massacres on Montellian Serat, even though she had been a small child when it happened. Because dissent had been suspected, hundreds upon hundreds of innocents had been killed. While she greatly approved of interrogation and slaughter of the war criminals and rebels, that had gone too far.

"This disturbs you," her father mused slowly. Leia's eyes snapped up at him, and she felt her mind involuntarily void itself of emotions.

"Of course not," she said, a little quickly. "I'm just being cautious. It's a big step for the Emperor, although I'm sure he's completely and thoroughly thought out this new system of galactical organization." There. Utter a bunch of political bantha fodder and a few big words, that'll throw one of the most powerful men in the galaxy off.

She bit her lip a little anxiously, but her father didn't press the matter. He had undying loyalty to the Emperor, but Leia knew that he would let her little uncertainties with the Imperial system slip. _As long as they were little_.

"So Tarkin has the Alderaan system? Is he on the station right now?"

"Yes. He has a plan for Organa, should he prove to be more difficult to cede to torture than we imagined."

_I have a bad feeling about this_, she thought.

Uneasily, she watched her father's mask drift toward the chrono on the wall. She quickly checked her own (she had put a new one on her wrist that morning).

"You have a meeting with the Kesselians in three hours' time."

It would be a long day.

* * *

One week later, Leia watched as Bail Organa was marched past her. Brown eyes met brown eyes, and the Princess almost stopped in stride at the look of sadnes, nostalgia, and pity in his eyes.

_Pity_? She felt a surge of anger, and glared back at him – but he had already disappeared into a door on their right. The girl swallowed, lifted her chin a few inches, and lengthened her step until she got to her own destination, not too far off from where the ex-Senator had entered.

The meetings with the Kesselians had been arranged to have been done on the Death Star – that was the space station's name – instead. Kessel, Darth Vader and the Emperor deemed, was too dangerous for Leia to be on. (However, she would still be going to Nar Shadaa in two weeks' time. Which meant the Kessel Negotiations had to be finished by then.)

The people she had been meeting with was a new bunch, and from the conference the week before they seemed respectable. Then again, so did the first group of leaders. And she hoped to the gods or the Force or whatever life-controlling entity out there that these ones were _nothing_ like the last assem –

A loud barrage of angry, anguished, agonized yells cut through her thoughts – Leia was on her feet so fast she didn't think about it.

The yells weren't loud where she was, they were muffled by walls and walls of durasteel – but she was sure that where they were occurring, they were loud as hell.

Running out of the room, she peered down the hall quickly to find everyone slowing in their steps to look at the door – the same door that Bail Organa had been forced through, minutes before.

She stared.

Then, out of nowhere –

_BOOM_.

She screamed, and wasn't the only one. The floor beneath her vibrated, the walls shook and metal groaned. A resounding force had hit the Death Star – something huge had exploded.

Desperately clutching her head, Leia fell to the floor. She felt as if her head were about to explode, she had a sudden vicious, virulent, terrible headache. She gritted her teeth against the pain. Because her eyes were clouding, she shut them – she barely noticed the hands that flew to he back and arm, asking whether she was all right.

As quickly as the headache had came, it left – she ventured to peer away from her knees, past the officers' legs and to the door. It stood there, silent.

Gripping a random shoulder, she pulled herself up and blindly pushed through the crowd, ignoring the sounds around her. She got to the door; it popened.

A man was being more-or-less dragged out. A man Leia recognized as Bail Oragana, one side of his face contorted in agony while the other remained relaxed and numb. He was moaning, in more torment than Leia could ever imagine.

"No… no… stop, no… … oh, Alderaan, beautiful Alderaan, my jewel…"

She stared, her mouth slightly open, stared and stared as he was led around the corner and the moans subsided.

Darth Vader staggered out, stiffly. Leia took his arm and held it, as if to steady him – although her size compared to his didn't quite permit it.

"Father! Father, what happened?" Leia asked quietly, after they walked to a 'secluded' part of the hall. She felt herself shaking, her teeth grinding against one another, feeling a despair that she couldn't recognize nor could she place the cause. Except that something had happened to Alderaan, but her mind couldn't _begin_ to fathom whatever had caused the explosion.

"Alderaan…" His voice was weak. "Has been destroyed."

The arms that Leia had around her father dropped; she started to slowly fall backwards against the wall, sliding down it in disbelief. Destroyed. Blown up. Exploded.

Destroyed.

This was much worse than the massacres… this was a whole planet, a whole ecosystem, a whole government.

A whole population. _Slaughtered_ in cold blood.

Alderaan. Destroyed.

By the space station.

Her hands were now shaking uncontrollably.

In a daze, she pulled herself off the floor her eyes taking in light waves but not seeing, her ears absorbing the sound frequencies but not hearing.

_A planet._

Without hearing or seeing or feeling or thinking, she walked down the hall.

_Gone_.

Somehow, she found her way to her room. For minutes or days or hours, Leia just sat there, contemplating and brooding.

It was a measure she would have never believed that the Empire would take.

The meeting was forgotten; that could be rescheduled. To hell with Kessel and Nar Shadaa. A planet had just been obliterated.

But, once again, the Imperial Princess was jolted out of her thoughts.

"_Red alert, armed intruders, near docking bay twenty-seven in quadrant two_," said a monotoned woman's voice over the intercom. "_Repeat: red alert. Armed intruders_."

* * *

_Guess who? _


	11. Intuition

**Author's Note: **Did this take too long, people? I hope not. Sorry if it did; school, since winter break, has been so damn hectic I wasabout ready to rip my hair out. But now that finals are over, I'm looking foward to a whole weekend with homework only from Euro AP. :) - dances -

By the way, has anyone here read the Han Solo Trilogy by A. C. Crispin? I read it over Christmas and thought it was amazing. Thoughts?

Also, an interesting bit of trivia: in Dutch, _Vader_ means _father_. So, if you were Dutch and you were smart (likely, if history is anything to go by), you may have figured out the whole Vader/Luke relationship back in the days of _A New Hope_.

One more thing: I'll be replying to any signed reviews by the new PM system, seeing as we're not allowed to do it here anymore... -grumbles-

Presenting chapter ten, everybody. :)

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**CHAPTER TEN: INTUITION**

Leia tore out of her room, then skidded across the smooth metal floor as she tucked her blaster haphazardly into her belt behind her back. For extra protection, of course; but she had to find her father. She didn't know why, but she knew that she did. It was another one of her instincts that Darth Vader had drilled into her head, as a girl, to not ignore. Last time, it had saved her life.

After making sure the sleek weapon wasn't going to fall out or shoot her in the butt or something supid like that, she started to run down the corridor again. No pleasantries or courtesies were made by the various officers or Storm Troopers jogging down the halls; everyone was too preoccupied with the Red Alert to pay any attention to the Imperial Princess going in the opposite direction.

She reached the corner, practically pivoted on a credit, and let out a shriek as something hard and tall practically collided into her. She swerved and turned to avoid him, almost falling over herself; her wrist was caught and both did an about-face until they faced eachother in the opposite directions each had intended to head.

She caught the face of the man.

"Zach!"

"Leia?"

Both, needless to say, were dumbfounded.

Pulling her into a light kiss that she didn't respond to due to numbness, shock, and adrenaline, he held her at arm's length.

"What're you doing here? When did you get back? I - "

"I just got back," she explained, almost at a shout. "D'you - "

"Are you okay?"

"Excuse me?"

"You seem pale."

Leia nodded quickly; she didn't feel like going over the whole Alderaan thing, she figured the only one who could understand her on that aspect was her father. Besides, she couldn't waste time on conversation. "I'm fine," she said quickly. "D'you know where my father is?"

"No - but, listen, Leia - " He pulled her close, looking her directly in the eye sternly. "I want you to go back to your room and stay ther until this thing is over, alright? These people that escaped have to be dangerous - they escaped the scanning crew. Do you promise me to go back to your room and stay there?"

"But - "

"_Do you promise me_?"

"... Yeah. Sure," she said, dully.

He nodded. "Good. I have to go." Turning, he started to leave, but just before he was out of sight he shouted back to her to go straight to the room.

Unable to help herself, Leia made a face at his back, then turned and, quick but deliberate, walked down the hall in the direction oppposite of where Zach had told her to go.

* * *

"_Attention. Intruders near Cell Bay B. Please focus all personell there._"

_Oh, now isn't this wonderful_, she thought sourly, as she looked at the big character 'B' nearly right above her. She didn't _want_ to capture whatever idiots thought it was cool to force their way into the space station. Her mind was bent on finding her father, and that was the only thing she knew. Not why, just _do it_.

Biting her lip hard in thought and stress, she tried to debate on whether to go straight or right. She thought that her father was near, but these two halls led to completely different parts of the station. Of course, she could make turns to right her course, but she just felt like not needing to take any detours.

And she had to decide quickly, before a whole legion of storm troopers arrived and made it quite impossible to get anywhere.

Chewing on her bottom lip, she threw a lock of brown hair over her shoulder. While in her room, she had been in the process of absently taking it down. On either side of her head was a halfway braided bun, with almost a foot of hair spilling out of the bottom in loose brown curls. She was sure it looked ridiculous, but was also sure that it probably was going to become a style sooner or later. Galactical teen sentients and their styles... it was no wonder these people needed strong leadership.

Leia looked foward. _Straight_, she mused, turning the word over in her head. _Straight. ... Straight. Or..._ Her head turned to the right, down an identical hall. _Right._

_Straight or right. Right or straight. Continue or curve. Fork or knife._ _Turn or _-

She let out an unPrincessy squeak and dove to the right as a red blaster bolt whizzed past her left ear.

_Well, then. Right it is_.

On her knees, she crawled back to see what had shot at her, and then scoffed when she looked upon a small squadron of storm troopers who were... _aiming for_, she thought the correct terminology was, the door to the cell block.

_No wonder we need so many. If we can at least train the clones to be able to shoot then the Rebel Alliance won't be in existance any more._

Scoffing, she picked herself up then, stumbling, started to make her way down the corrider just as the sound of marching marching feet could be heard. Just in time.

Leia had no idea how long she had been running down the halls, turning or going straight or backtracking. It couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen minutes, because she wasn't getting tired. (Maybe it was just the adrenaline.)

All she knew was that, in some point in time, she reached a docking bay with three storm troopers standing at attention, and knew that that was where she needed to be.

Idly, she stood, as the storm troopers ignored her after an initial salute. She didn't mind. As long as they weren't in battle within a hundred yards of her, she was fine.

Oddly enough she felt like she was on guard. Loosely, in her right hand, she held the light blaster. She felt cool, decisive, and confident, with her chin high and her brown eyes expressionless. It made her wonder if this was how soldiers or generals felt before going into battle. She had to admit, she liked the feeling; it was a feeling of being in charge, of knowing exactly what she had to do and not being afraid of the consequences. Even though she she had no idea _what_ in the worlds she was doing and was harboring a feeling of terror in her stomach.

Her eyebrows frowned. She ducked her head, suspiciously, turning it at the lightest angle to the right. Leia felt like she was being watched, but she caught nothing out of the corner of her eye, except the corner of a -

And she wheeled around, her eyes widening.

_Oh, no_, she thought. _No no no nononono..._

_That_ ship? _Those_ armed intruders? The - the _accursed_ man and his big walking furry carpet _thing_! How in all hells did they get in here!

Her eyes were narrowed and dark with anger, lips pursed tightly as she surveyed the ship. Yes. _Definitely_ the same ship. With the _same_ man and his _same_ monster. She resisted the urge to raise her blaster and just start shooting the crap out of it, lest she be detained for suspected mental instabilities.

Leia crinkled her nose at the ship, thinking, _I hope they get shot_. Then she turned, in case she did start having a psychochotic fit. Better be safe than sorry.

She waited for a few minutes. But what was she waiting for, exactly? A battle? Her father's arrival? And _why_? She asked herself these questions, searching her mind for the answers and coming up fruitless. This follow-your-intuition thing was helpful, but a bit too vague for her own liking.

The hairs on the back ofher neck prickled again, and she jerked her head around. No. No one behind her. Was she going insane already? She hoped not. Must be bad, to go insane at age eighteen. Oh, well. She'll blame it on the stress.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even notice a blaster shot whizzing by her so closely that it singed the white sleeve on her right elbow. She jerked, almost falling to her left in her surprise. She let out a loud curse, and fell the the floor and drew her own weapon.

Oh, wonderful. That could mean one thing: that arrogant man and his furry bodyguard were here.

Blaster fire rained all around her, and she rolled to the side of battle to avoid getting hit by either the enemies or the clumsy armor-clad stormtroopers behind her. When she couldn't hold it any longer, she scarmbled to her feet and ran in a half-duck to the sidelines.

A misaimed bolt from the pour of fire coming from the opposite side of the room struck the machinery next to her, and she screamed in both fear and rage and aimed her own to retaliate, when a sound caught her ear. Incredulously, she turned back to the machinery, which was beeping loudly.

A quick overview of the data that appeared on the screen made a feeling of dread grow from the pit of her stomach, seeping with her blood along the individual capillaries and permeating up to her heart.

Oh, crap.

"_Pressure dropping... oxygen dropping... shields down..._" came the mechanical human female voice in Basic. Groaning in frusteration, she wheeled around, bringing the sleek blaster up to eye level and aiming for four people now running to the beat-up freighter.

One paused, looking off somewhere to Leia's right.

Squinting and glaring, she increased pressure on the trigger and -

_Fzshm. _

_Fzshm_, came the first one's answer.

She swung around, blaster whipping through the air - the sight before her made her hand drop to her side in disbelief.

Two activated lightsabers - one belonging to an old man in brown robes, and the other -

"FATHER!" she screamed, advancing foward - and she faltered, stopped dead, and a shudder ran down her body.

Emanating from her father was a jumble of emotions, strong emotions; anger, hate - yes, there was much hate - and -- fear...?

Her father was afraid. Deathly afraid. And that scared the living hell out of Leia.

She watched the dance, the touchings of lightsaber to lightsaber, the buzzes and hisses and slashes and smell of charred cloth as each Force-user, half man or old man, apprentice or master, barely missed eachother's fatal blows.

A name came to her head: _Obi-Wan Kenobi_. A name that disfigured and dismembered Darth Vader. A name that Leia instantly hated.

She bared her teeth, then brought her blaster up. She wanted nothing more that to do harm against this man. Nothing more! She hated him, hated him for what he did to her father, her mother, _he turned my Padmé against me! I hate you I hate you I have to kill you you killed me!_

_Shoot! SHOOT!_ her mind screamed.

She put pressure on the trigger and shot, at the same time a voice behind her shouted, "BEN!"

A blue lightsaber whipped around and deflected the bolt easily, but that left his torso open. A red lightsaber found the old man's heart.

"_BEN_!"

Leia dropped to her knees, full of the aftermath of adrenaline and of the dying, fufilled hatred and she couldn't breathe and her temples hurt like mad...

_"Oxygen dropping... shields down... pressure dropping... oxygen dropping..._"

Oxygen. Oxygen. Yes, yes, that's what she needed. And food, and a bed, and a headache reliever.

"_Pressure dropping..._"

She watched the turn, making his way past the heap of brown robes, toward Leia, to help her to save her...

"... _Oxygen dropping..._"

The blast doors closed, sealing off the faulty area. Leia leaned foward onto her chest, watching her father get trapped behind the heavy durasteel. Was it just her, or were the doors glowing orange all of the sudden?

"_Shields down..._ _pressure dropping..._"

Leia closed her eyes. Just a little rest. Then she'd get up. She felt kind of woozy, anyways.

Her last thought before unconciousness took her was a woman, beautiful but crying crying and her face filled with despair.

* * *

Blah blah blah... review, tell me what you thought of that last bit of scene. :) Oh, you know you want to. Lest I be forced to start using Silindro's ever-compelling line for reviews... (you all know what it is.)


	12. No White Flag

**Author's Note:** Wow. Has it really been so long since I've updated? So sorry - school has been a hectic mess, and therefore my muse dissapeared to get away from it all. Haha. Well, I got inspiration last night, and spent all day writing this. :) Good thing my homework load is light today.

But, seriously, I listened to my Jem CD, like, six times through while writing this. (For some reason, its the CD that gives me Star Wars inspriation. Oh, well. Go figure.)

Anyways, hope you enjoythis chapter because I sure as hell enjoyed writing it. :)

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**CHAPTER ELEVEN: NO WHITE FLAG**

Leia usually liked white.

She liked white clothes. She loved soft, clean, white sheets. Hell, even white bread was a personal favorite.

If there was one thing she couldn't stand, however, it was the white walls of an infirmary.

The young woman frowned at the white ceiling above her. She had just woken with a throbbing, dull headache on the sides of her skull, and the blindingness and the various beeps and buzzes around her were not helping. She had no intention to move, nor had she any intention to let anyone know she was awake - she felt too groggy, the grogginess usually accompanied with an unexpected afternoon nap, and the light surprise anbd confusion of waking up to the fading sunlight as opposed to the rising dawn.

The lethargy would pass when she fell asleep again. So she closed her eyes again.

A few minutes went by.

Yet she still wasn't able to get her body to feel the faintest trace of sleepiness. Leia decided that it annoyed her.

She was also fairly sure it was because of the hard, flat pillow that had been provided for her accompanied by the thin and, now, cold blanket. Once she got out of this place, she was going to petition for better sleeping accommodations - what were the medical personnel _thinking_? She was the Princess, for heaven's sake! She could see this sort of thing for lowly _officers_, but for _her_? Please.

After an hour of laying there and shifting on the hard cot (which she dutifully noted to add to her lengthening petition along with more food, water, and headache medication which she had noted a half-hour before), her brain wandered into a dull half-doze. In her state of half-conciousness, she was able to tell that she was on her way to sleeping because of the odd images and strange half-dreams that had entered her head.

A woman she vaguely recognized - a face she was sure she had seen recently - was leading her by hand through a series of dark and stone and stifling hot corridors, over lumps which Leia was sure were dead bodies - yet she was somehow sure there was an oasis nearby, a large lake surrounded by meadows and hills of long green grass and white-tipped flowers.

_'We're almost there,'_ the woman said in the soft, far-away voice that only people in dreams have. _'A little more time, a few more steps.'_

A bit more on the way, the corridors, she was sure, were a bit cooler. Leia heard the sound of arguing voices. For some reason, the lady who had been leading her by hand stopped to listen. Leia supposed she had no choice.

_'What the... is... doing here?'_

(She wondered what the point of listening was if she only half-heard what they were saying through the thick walls.)

_'Had to...!' _retorted a much more boyish voice. _'... half-dead, no ox-... would've died... can... her back.'_

_'...Idiot! ... outside!'_

_'No! ... won't wake... there...'_

The voices faded.

In her dream, Leia made an inquiring look.

_'See?'_ the woman asked. _'We're almost there.'_

Confused, she was pulled along the corridor, where they made many twists and turns and full circles, even.

The corridors became darker, more menacing. They sped up. The darkness descended, pressed into them, became stickily palpable.

The woman's hand wasn't on hers anymore.

Leia awoke with a start and a small high pitched sound coming out of her throat that almost resembled a scream.

She sat up in bed, rubbing her face where the lightest sheen of perspiration had gathered.

Images of her dream came back to her, and she struggled to keep her grasp on them, but it was like she was trying to hold sand in a sifter. No matter how steady she held herself, little pebbles were still drifting out - until no more than very scarcely bigger and much fewer pebbles were left.

Groaning, she leaned foward and rubbed her temples, blaming her increased irritation on the starkingly white walls surrounding her. Brown eyes flickered to a pale wrist before she realized that she _still_ didn't have a watch.

Leia tried to ignore the surge of annoyance, and looked up and felt like she was hit with a proverbial _sledghammer_ with what her eyes were met with.

Oddly enough, it wasn't met with anything else but with, surprise, white walls and a white door and a white hovering holocam in the corner that was pointd away from the refresher area.

The absense of a droid or a doctor irked her. It scared her; she looked down, and realized with a jolt that she was clad in white, cheap hospital gown.

What. Was. Going. On. ... ?

Being in the hospital in other Imperial centers, she was never in anything but the best. She always had soft clothes and soft sheets and three pillows and a queen-sized bed - after all, she _was_ royalty. Practically.

So she could only logically surmise that she _wasn't _in an Imperial hospital. Which, of course, was completely and utterly impossible. Not only was it impossible, it was in_concievable_ and imperiling!

Decisively, she stood up and padded her feet against the cold white-tiled floor over to the door.

There was no opening mechanism.

She was imprisoned in a white cage.

* * *

For ten minutes, Leia had been pacing the ten-by-ten room in agitation, trying not to let hysteria or hyperventilation overtake her. 

The latter was winning.

She tried to contol her breathing while simultaneously trying to control her thoughts to become more straight-lined and logical and calm.

_WhereamIwhereamIwhereamIwhereamI - _?

And it wasn't working.

Oh, gods. Oh, gods oh Force oh crap oh gods --- _where am I_!

_Breathe, Skywalker_, she thought as he chest rapidly rose and fell. _Breathe_.

Oh, wasn't it just a joy when your body doesn't listen to you?

She paced over to her bread, nervously grabbing the pillow and trwisting it; it barely complied, so she threw it forcefully back onto the bed and pounded it for good measure.

A thought came to her head: _what would my father do_?

Well, he would take out his lightsaber and cut his way through the opposition and come out unscathed. And where did that leave Leia? Nowhere. She didn't have either the lightsaber - not even a blaster - or the courage or the skill.

Wasn't that absolutely useless?

She buried her face in her arms, kneeling on the floor with her head on the low-rising cot. She tried to suppress her fear and uncertainty, she tried to drown all emotion, she tried to keep from crying in the complete helplessness of it all.

Leia was trying so hard that her head jerked up in anger and irritation at the sound of the door opening behind her.

She stared, unable to believe her eyes. If what she was seeing was true, that could only mean...

This was much worse than she thought it would be. Hot, irrational, immature fear crawled up her bones, the white bones that gave her support had her collapse backwards into the side of the bed.

Mon Mothma, meanwhile, stared down at the younger woman cooly.

"Imperial Princess Ambassador Leia Skywalker," she greeted, in a tone that Leia would say was cooly polite if it weren't for the Rebel mastermind who, by definition of 'enemy', wasn't allowed to be polite in any sense - _especially _the barbaric Rebels.

"What d'you want from me?" Leia spat, drawing her knees to her chest like a little girl would.

Mothma ignored the question.

"I see you're finally awake."

Leia didn't answer, only glared with her fear turning into anger and finally hatred.

"If you hadn't realized - " The redhead paused for a moment, surveying Leia as if she would be quite dissapointed if the girl hadn't figured it out yet. "you are at the base of the Rebel Alliance."

"Do you think I've gained my position through stupidity?"

"You did ask what we would want - and I believe that is a question that you, of all people, should have known."

"Information," Leia said shortly. "Dealings. Ransom, perhaps?" She arched her eyebrows, surveying the enemy with contempt. "Or extortion by threatening my life?"

The woman gave her a cold smile that was a long shot from reaching her eyes. "Very good, Princess."

"I simply made my first - " she stood up, uncomfortable with being looked down at. She had to lean against the bed for support, as her legs seemed wobbly. "_inquiry_ because you, surely, can't think that I would give up any sort of information regarding His Excellency's affairs and Empire."

The woman looked her up and down, seeming mildly impressed if not still a bit derisive. "Of course not, Princess. I would never dream of you willingly betraying your... _Empire_."

The brunette felt a flash of annoyance.

"Not unwillingly, either," she reminded.

"That has yet to be proven."

It was time for Leia to give an icy smile. "I have had training in the matter, _Mothma_." The lack of respect was clear, and contrasted with the Rebel Leader's calling of Leia by her title.

The older woman regarded her for a moment with her blue eyes.

"I'll come visit you again later, Princess." The message was clear: Mon Motha thought herself above Princess Leia. Again, Leia felt anger diffuse through her body. "When you are more... calm."

"I'm sure you'll find that there'll be little difference in my demeanor," Leia responded cooly.

"Of course," the woman accepted quietly. She turned to her guards - two faceless, expressionless males that Leia had taken little notice of before.

"Lets leave the Ambassador to her thoughts," she said quietly, turning her heel to leave.

"Are you planning on starving me?" the Princess finally snapped. The other turned her head at an angle with her back turned, acknowledging Leia, who wondered if they really _did_ plan to starve her.

"I'll send some food to your room. _Let us out,_" she added to a comm device in her hand. The door sprung upwards, opening. Leia caught a glimpse of more infirmary before the old Senator walked out and the white door shut again.

Obviously, she was in the _prisoner's_ ward. Ugh. It sounded like she was some common criminal.

_War_ prisoner's ward. Yes. That was better.

* * *

Ten minutes later, while Leia was laying down and staring at the ceiling while trying to sort her thoughts, a plate was pushed in and out of her room so quickly she was sure it could have just appeared there out of no where. 

She turned her head so her brown eyes can look at the food.

White rice and skinless chicken breast.

Leia almost laughed.

* * *

Blah blah blah... -points at review button- 


	13. Time By Meals

**Author's Note:** Hey, all. It's been over two months, but I finally am updating. :) So cheer! Or groan, or whatever. Really sorry this took so long. My AP test was approaching and it's finished now so yay. But yeah. Okay. Really sorry, I swear. While this chapter is a load of talk, I really do happen to like it. :) Chapter twelve, everybody!

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CHAPTER TWELVE: TIME BY MEALS**

Groggily, her eyes flickered open into the now-familiar sterile whiteness of her prison quarters. Little had changed in the room since her arrival which was, by her count, seven standard days ago. She figured two meals a day and she's had thirteen meals. While she had very little concept oftime because she would sleep for hours and then wake up and time was passing too slow for its own good, that was the best her logical reasoning gave her.

She pushed herself off of the cot, automatically pacing to the door and back as if that would do anything. She figured, from all of the holofilms she's seen (yes, although an ambassador and the Lady Imperial Princess she still _did_ find time to be a semi-normal teenager), that being a political and war prisoner would be a bit more... _exciting_. But no. It had been a week (or thirteen meals, however one would want to look at it), and there were none of the interrogations in poorly-lighted rooms, no fantastic escapes... she just _sat_ there.

And it bored her.

Hell, she would even have welcomed a visit from Mon Mothma, if only to release her nervous and pent up tension and energy. Somehow, arguing was always a way for her to relieve stress. It was one of Leia's attributes.

On her fourth pace back to the bed, Meal Fourteen arrived.

Taking a sophisticated look at the holocam, which was pointed toward the door and her bed to make sure she didn't have a plastic knife or something similar that she could escape with, she slowly knelt down and picked up her food. The girl then walked back to her bed and sat down, picking up the metal spork and unceremoniously and nonchalantly stabbing at the chicken and putting it in her mouth.

Still chewing, she let out a sigh through her nose and slumped, staring at the door ahead of her. _Just through two inches of durasteel is freedom_, she thought wistfully.

_Freedom_. To where? Further inside the Rebel base? She was stuck, and there was no denying it. She was in a helpless position with no hope of rescue. Trying to stay idle, she wondered if they were going to torture her. Somehow, she thought that they wouldn't.

_Freedom_.

Leia switched to her rice, taking a small spoonful.

Was her father looking for her right now? No doubt. But he wouldn't find her, would he? She could almost _feel_ his pain and tension – but Leia simply accounted that to the fact that she was feeling a lot of pain and tension at that moment as well. Was he commanding his Star Destroyer? Was he staring at the viewport, his hands linked behind his back, contemplating the stars and wondering which one she was at?

Or was she even in a star system at all, rather floating out in aimless space on a Rebel ship? If so, how would they ever find her?

Darth Vader had once told her that he had, when he was still very young, dreamed of going across the galaxy; star hopping until he saw every single one of them. Leia had been ten years old, and giggled, because even at that age she had known the sheer vastness and enormity of space.

She swallowed, and sighed again. All she could do was hope for the best – hope for a rescue, trust in her father and his powers to save her --

-- save her.

Who had saved her? Back on the battle station, the Death Star? How had she ended up here, when the last she was able to remember was burning lungs and sparks flying everywhere and a heap of brown robes (and indescribable anger and pain)...? Then she woke up here, and her mind wasn't able to fill in the gap and then, for some reason, Leia started to think about the dreams she had.

It had been the same since the first day she woke up – she was being led by a person without a face down several dark corridors, aimlessly, always plagued at the thought of an oasis nearby in the hot stuffiness of it all. They would pass rooms where the doors were locked, but people were either arguing or crying or screaming and she thought, at one point, she heard a baby.

... Leia hated the dreams. They frightened her, and she would always wake up with stiff and jerky muscles and her hairline sheened with the lightest layer of sweat.

The dreams had never changed – the arguments, although she was unable to hear them, always seemed to be about the same thing. The only difference was that she sometimes caught different snatches of words, or the sudden feelings were varied in character...

Leia always wondered what they (whoever 'they' were) were arguing about.

She looked down at her empty white dish, realizing that she had finished a while ago, considering how the rice was clinging and molding into the plastic.

Sighing, she set it neatly against the wall on the floor next to her bed, adjusting the spork so it was parallel to the sides of the plate. Satisfied, she stood, walked to the other side of the room, then back and sat down again.

Her legs were restless; her mind was restless; she had had far too much time in solitary to think, and now her mind was overloaded with thoughts that she had to get out somehow. At home, this was usually done with her father or with Zach or in a datapad report. She honestly didn't really know anyone else; the admirals were not people that one was able to talk to.

Except Zach, maybe, but even he had his days where he was too tense or busy. She enjoyed his company because he was a nice man, and he was good-looking and respectful. But now that she thought... it all seemed very passive, didn't it? Their whole relationship.

Leia shook her head, clearing her thoughts. No, she definitely had way too much time on her own. Zach was respectable, honest, and worthy; what was she thinking?

She pushed that thought aside, turning to other things; thinks she had already pondered on but that she didn't mind going over again. At one point, she started to restlessly pace around without realizing what she was doing. Leia didn't know how long she was doing this; after all, she didn't have any concept of time anymore.

Then, all of the sudden, the characteristic _hiss_ of an opening door sounded. Startled, she wheeled around to find a redhead ducking in, with the two guards behind her as before.

Leia stared, stunned, for a moment, at Mothma. She realized how she must look, with her long brown hair messy and her face devoid of any makeup she may have had when she first arrived. It made her feel self-conscious and then the Princess stood up straighter, relaxing her shoulders and lifting her chin to emphasize any sort of intimidating stature that she didn't have.

The Supreme Commander gave her a smile and Leia felt like spitting; but instead she marched over to her bed (which she had just realized she had made) and sat, crossing her legs and keeping her back as straight as a board.

"Yes?" she inquired, as if she owned the place. Which, of course, she didn't.

"Hello, Princess Skywalker," answered Mothma, a foot taller than Leia since she was standing. The redhead didn't overbear.

Leia remained silent.

"I told you that I would come again, once you were calmer."

"And your wait has done nothing but to increase my disquiet," she almost snapped; her features were neutral.

"However, you seem to have a stronger grip on your mind and emotions than last time."

Once again, the brunette didn't answer. They sank into a silence that crackled with tension. Instead of looking at Mon Mothma, Leia's eyes drifted over to the two guards – they were both young and wearing dark blue and loose suits that looked more like they were ready to jump into a starfighter than to walk around base. They had comlinks in their ears but, otherwise, their heads were unburdened by hats or helmets. However, she noticed that each had blasters attached to the belts that were hanging low on their hips.

It was much different than the guards she was used to back home; things were less formal and stiff. They didn't even keep their heads straight forward; one was staring at the back at Mothma's head, frowning slightly, and the other was looking at _her_; his light blue eyes were contemplative and piercing into her uncomfortably.

Leia snapped her own brown eyes away, looking back at Mothma who seemed to be waiting for her to speak.

"Is there a reason that you're here, Mothma?" she asked rudely. "And I don't see why you need guards behind you; I'm not about to attack you with my spork."

She gestured at the plate. Mothma allowed a humored smile. "Just for precaution, Princess. It's not everyday that you are able to be so close to your greatest enemy, is it?"

Leia shrugged.

"And, coincidentally, there _is_ a reason that I have came. I wanted to say that we have contacted Lord Vader."

The girl stiffened at the mention of her father, her eyes suddenly becoming focused and hopeful and expectant and surprised all at once; without thinking, she leaned forward eagerly, and said, "What did he say?" Pause. "And why are you telling me this?"

"Because it concerns you."

There was a brief second of complete silence.

"What did he say?" she repeated.

"He demanded your return lest we want total and brutal annihilation; promised torture." She shrugged, but seemed oddly satisfied. "However, that would have happened even had we not have had possession of you."

"With good reason!" Leia cried. "And don't call me a _possession_."

Mothma surveyed her for a moment. "Prisoner, then," she allowed. Leia was surprised, and it showed – then she realized what was happening. Oh, gods. No, Skywalker, no! What the hell are you doing!

She wiped the emotion from her face and fell mute. No. _Why_ had she let Mothma see her weak side? Of course, that's why she's satisfied... ah, no.

Clenching her jaw, she let her deep eyes meet the Commander's light ones again.

"And why did you contact him?" Leia asked, stiffly and quietly.

"Ransom," replied Mothma. "Mostly. We decided to give it a shot. You in exchange for money. However, we didn't expect Vader or the Emperor to comply. And they didn't."

She tried to push down the feeling of indignation and hurt, but it was putting up a fight. Her jaw was so tight that it hurt, and she felt like she was pushing her teeth further up into her gums.

Somehow, Leia wrenched her jaw open.

"Where am I?" she asked in a hollow voice without expecting an answer.

Once again, Mothma surprised her with one.

"In the Ring," she answered vaguely, one corner of her small mouth turning up in light amusement at a personal joke of hers. Leia scowled. "That is all," she concluded, turning. "Good-bye, Princess Ambassador."

Leia gave no sign that she heard her. However, she did hear the door opening and light footsteps start to leave.

"Lars – now," came Mothma's voice again.

Leia's head snapped up to see that the blue-eyed guard had lingered behind, and was still casting her an odd look. Leia watched as he left.

With its characteristic hiss, the door closed.

* * *

She didn't want to be here, but she was. 

She didn't want her life to be collapsing around her, but it was.

She didn't want to be the helpless maiden, but she was.

She didn't want to cry, but she did.

* * *

Leia was a wreck – because there is no other word that can possible display her state so completely. Despair had fallen heavy seven days (or thirteen/fourteen meals) past the second visit; she had been in the cell for two weeks or more, and the utter desolation she was feeling had started to take its toll. 

It was pathetic, really – even she knew it. She hadn't showered in two days. She ate little of the small amount of food they gave her. Mothma had made one more appearance, and Leia had pretended to be asleep and ignored her. Presently, the woman had left and Leia berated herself for hours for being so wretchingly petty.

Sleep, if possible, had been worse. The dreams (_nightmares_) hit her with such clarity that she _felt_ as if something was pushing down on her, warning her, trying to give her hope – but she couldn't pinpoint it. She couldn't pinpoint anything.

The fact was was that she was lonely. She missed her father desperately. She missed Zach. She missed her room, she missed her watches. She wanted her life back, she wanted her job back. She hated sitting here and doing... _nothing_.

Leia hated it viciously.

And as of now? She was eating, actually. Slowly, and with much of pushing of the food around the plate, but she was eating. It was either meal fourteen or fifteen, she couldn't quite remember.

And, as things like that tend to happen, the door opened again. Because life loved her and she loved it when Mothma came to visit and she loved it even more that she wasn't able to pretend that she was asleep because she was _not_ in the mood to deal with it right now.

So, Leia ignored her. She took measured bites, slowly, waiting for the woman to take the hint and leave. But Mothma apparently didn't take the hint because she didn't leave (or, most likely, she took the hint but didn't care).

So Leia ate – not too slow so it wouldn't seem like she was reluctant to eat around her and so it wouldn't convey her dolefulness, and not too fast so she wouldn't seem too hungry – a weakness. She had already shown a weakness, and it wasn't about to happen again.

Leia sensed rather than saw Mothma sit down. (On what?) However, she didn't look up until she finished the last bite and put it on the floor.

When she did raise her eyes, she saw Mothma on a hover chair, studying her with interest. Leia decided to cut right to the chase.

"Why do you keep coming here?" she demanded icily.

Mon Mothma didn't answer right away; she seemed to think about that for a moment. Then, "You intrigue me." Leia must have looked startled, because the older woman elaborated. "You are so vehement about your father, about defending your _Empire_," she spat the word, as if it was despicable. Leia scowled at her once more, offended. "Yet..."

She trailed off. Leia found herself waiting for what Mothma had to say. She _wanted_ to know.

"I get this feeling that you're really... good. Good, at heart." There was a pause in which Leia scoffed. "Like your mother."

She felt her face contort in rage. How dare her! How _dare_ she, the Empire's greatest enemy, mention Leia's mother to her face!

"_Don't_ talk to me about my mother," she growled through clenched teeth. "Don't _you_ ever say anything to me about her _ever_ again."

She watched through narrowed eyes and pursed lips as Mothma stepped down, playing by Leia's rules even though the younger girl had no power whatsoever.

"Besides," she started up, feeling the bubbling restlessness and hurt and despair in the pit of her stomach seeping over the surface. "You tell me about my _vehemence_ in defending the Empire? Defending _order_ and _peace_! What is there to defend, that speaks for itself!"

"Order? Rigid, controlling, oppressing. Peace? Forced."

"Forced?" Leia repeated, astonished. "The only places where there isn't peace are the places where you and the Rebellion have been."

"We're trying to liberate the galaxy, Princess. The Empire is structured around the economy and adding to Palpatine's power."

Leia felt as if she were about to burst with all the arguments trying to force themselves out of her at once. "The _Empire_ is a benevolent one, Commander. It maintains order and society; there is no more petty arguing among Senators that get nothing done. _That_ is why the Republic collapsed – they were unable to hold themselves together. It was weak, whereas the Empire is strong and decisive; it adheres to rules, it adheres to the due process of law --"

"Like it did with Alderaan?" Mothma countered smoothly. Leia felt her mouth shut and her stomach clench in remembrance of its destruction.

The Supreme Commander observed her quietly and sadly, giving a small smile and standing up. "Good night, Ambassador."

And she left.

The door hissed shut.

Leia realized, while looking at her empty plate, that Mothma had had no guards with her.

* * *

Review, review, review... :) :P 


	14. Interlude: Reasoning

**Author's Note: **Short chapter, but as the title says, it's an interlude. I thought I should put this in so when I follow on with the plot no one will get confused or start questioning motives, etc. :) PS: School ends on Friday so I should be updating more over the summer.

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* * *

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**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: INTERLUDE - REASONING**

Mon Mothma wearily stacked up the flimsies and stuffed them into the folder as everyone quietly filtered out of the conference room. She placed her elbows on the table, resting her head atop of her small hands.

It had been an exhausting meeting. Long, and all about how the Rebellion was going bankrupt and how they think they found an Imperial spy droid near base so they may have to evacuate...

Oh, life was going well.

With a sigh, she collected herself and sat up briskly – her eyes were drawn to someone who had silently stayed in without her knowledge.

"Carlist."

General Riekkan tilted his head in greeting.

"Hello, Mon."

"I had thought everyone had left."

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?'

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table with his fingers intertwined in front of them. "During the meeting, if you remember, the subject of Lady Skywalker was brought up."

"I remember."

He paused for a moment, watching her. If anything, the Supreme Commander looked politely interested as to what he had to say.

"Why are we holding the girl?" he asked softly, quietly. "We both know it's more dangerous to keep her; Vader's efforts are probably redoubled."

The older redhead let out a sigh and stood up, tucking the folder carefully under her arm. "I explained to you my reasoning, Carlist."

"It didn't satisfy."

She stopped. "You know as well as I do that Vader would never annihilate a base if he thought his daughter was on it."

"Vader won't, but what about the Emperor?"

"Nor him, she's too valuable; we all know that while Palpatine issues the orders, it's Vader that does everything." She paused. "Both you and I know who he was," she added quietly, looking at Riekkan sadly. "He's powerful enough to make his own choices."

"It's likely that the Emperor doesn't even want the Princess around; it would divide Darth Vader's loyalties. That air attack on Kessel wasn't by us, Commander -"

"I know, but just because we were blamed doesn't mean he ordered it. For all we know, it was just a bunch of angry Hutts and he simply exploited the incident for propaganda against us."

"While that could be true, I still think it is too much of a coincidence -"

"That's all it is, Carlist, a coincidence."

He sighed, knowing full well that she was not about to budge in her stance.

She turned to leave.

Riekkan spoke again.

"One more thing, Mon."

Mothma stopped.

"What is it?"

"Is defense the only reason you're keeping her?"

He watched her pause and stop, her blue eyes briefly flickering downward.

"Leia -" She hesitated. "She's her mother's daughter, I know that much." Her voice became urgent. "From the times I've met the girl, I could just sense it – she has the intelligence, the eloquence, the omniscience of Padmé. Yes, she has remnants of her father's temper and _both_ of their stubbornness – but it's more than looks, Carlist, she's like her mother."

For the first time, she looked agitated. The folder of flimsies was dropped onto the table as she fiddled with her sleeves, turning around twice.

"If only we can get her to _trust_ us, to perhaps befriend us, maybe -"

"Mon."

The woman stopped and looked at him.

"The Princess was raised by Lord Vader. She doesn't have an ounce of democracy or a sense of justice. If you're going to try to get her to turn, you're on a wild banth -"

"But she does! By the Force, Alderaan -" she faltered, her voice cracking. "I could tell. She didn't understand the destruction, she didn't see the reason, she didn't know _why_ so many people had to die. I don't know how, but _something_ was carried on from her mother's side. And if perhaps we get her to see the Empire's holistic evilness, perhaps maybe she will go to the _right_ side -"

"Mon, 'right' is relative."

"But I know that 'right' isn't slavery, oppression, and destruction."

"But for her? Mon, you can't rely on the fact that because the girl's mother was Padmé –- and even so, if it ever _did _happen, what use would it be to us? The most damaging would be a blow to the Empire's morale, and it's not like Stormtroopers have much of that anyway -"

"The girl is a diplomat. She's _ambassador_ to Palpatine himself, for gods' sakes. Call it favoritism, but he'd look after his Empire's interests so _she's _the best – not only that, but we can make a guess at strategic intelligence _and_ since she's at the top, Force knows what sort of information she can give us."

Riekkan sighed.

"She'll see through it. If she's so smart, she'll know she's being manipulated."

"Manipulated?" The Supreme Commander seemed disgusted at such a term. "Persuaded, perhaps."

He was quiet for a moment.

"You know you don't need my permission," he murmured after a bit. "But whatever you're about to try – be careful. Because for all we know, it could be the death of us."

With that he left.

She watched him leave, and was finally alone. With a long breathe, she sank into a chair and felt more tired than she had in a long time.


End file.
